
EXCURSIO 

IN HOME GEOGRAPHI 



A/c MURRY 




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EXCURSIONS AND LESSONS 

IN 

HOME GEOGRAPHY 



■y^y^ 



EXCURSIONS AND LESSONS 



IN 



HOME GEOGRAPHY 



BY 

CHARLES A. McMURRY, Ph.D. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
1904 

AH rights reserved 



LIBcatrv «* nnNQRt'SS 

3C ■ iC 1904 

OI.AS3 ^ )fyo. No. 







Copyp.iGiiT, 1904, 

By the macmillan company. 

Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1904. 



Nortooofi ^rcBB 

J. S. Cashing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Morwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

It is customar}^ in some schools to make excur- 
sions with children to study the geography of the 
home neighborhood. 

The series of excursions described in this book 
furnishes a variety of illustrations in different locali- 
ties of such trips with children. They are such ex- 
cursions as are usually taken with classes in the third 
or the fourth grade. But while it may be well to 
emphasize the geographical excursion in these grades 
just beginning the study, an occasional excursion 
would not be out of place with children in any 
grade below the high school. In fact, some of the 
trips described were taken with grammar school 
classes. 

A few of these topics, like that of gravel roads, 
may be discussed without an excursion, but in most 
of them the excursion w^ould be a real help. 

In this book our purpose has been to give the 
subject-matter rather than the method of managing 
the excursion, though occasionally hints are given 
on method. 



VI PREFACE 

The "Special Methotl in Geography," published 
by The Maemillan (Jompaiiy, has a somewhat full 
treatment of this whole subject of excursions and 
of the method of handling them. 

In Ihe present volume, illustrations of excursions 
in man}^ different localities are given so as to show 
the varied scope of such work as adapted to different 
places. 

Most of these lessons are illustrations or types of 
similar things found in other parts of our country. 
It is believed that twenty or more good topics having 
strong resemblance to those treated in this book can 
be selected in nearly every community. 

It is not the purpose of this book to lay out any 
narrow method or any fixed body of topics, but 
rather to suggest variety and originality on the 
teacher's part. The great object of such observa- 
tional study is to open the eyes of both teacher and 
pupil to the physical and industrial world in close 
proximity to them, and to find in these instructive 
things the simple and fundamental problems of life. 

A teacher well acciuainted through experience with 
this local material is in many respects well qualified 
for teaching geography. 

Palatka, Florida, 
February 15, 1904. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

Local Scenery and Views 

Excursion to the Normal School Tower 
View from the Bluffs at Winona, Minnesota 
Steamboat Trip to Taughannock Falls 
Sea Bathing on the East Coast of Florida =. 

Denver, Colorado 

View from Wheeling Hill 

An Excursion to Coney Island . . . , 
The Creek and Pond ...... 

The Valley and Rock Strata at Faribault, Minnesota 
Visit to a City Park ...... 



1 
5 
9 
19 
25 
32 
40 
46 
48 
50 



CHAPTER II 

Excursions to Shops and Factories 

Excursions to observe House Building . . = . . 51 

Excursion to a Blacksmith Shop ....... 55 

The Planing-mill at Ithaca, New York 57 

The Cypress Sawmill at Palatka, Florida 63 

The Warwick Pottery at Wheeling ...... 72 

The Akron Belting Company . . . . . . =. 79 

Outlines for the Treatment of Other Shops and Factories : 

A Foundry .......... 83 

A Cooper Shop . o . <. . . » . . 83 



VIU 



CONTENTS 



A Carpet Weaver 
A Stone Quarry 
A Brick-yard . 
A Fruit Store 
A Grocery Store 
A Bakery 
A Shoemaker . 
A Tin Shop . 
A Tannery 
A Shoe Factory 
A Mill and Mill-race 
A Woollen Mill . 
A Printing-office 
A Canning Factory 
A Furniture Factory 
A Department Store 
A Machine Shop 



PAGB 

83 
83 
84 
85 
86 



86 



86 



88 



89 



CHAPTER III 

Commercial Topics 

Visit to a Three-masted Schooner 

Crawfordsville, Indiana, as a Centre for the Free Gravel Road 

The Knoxville Bridge, Tennessee 

Trip to Tower of Montgomery Ward Building in Chicago 
Other Commercial Topics Outlined : 

The Local Town or Village as a Trade Centre 

A Freight Office or Station . . , . 

A Grain Elevator 

A City Market 

Visit to a River Steamer or Ocean Liner 



90 

96 

103 

108 

114 
114 
114 
115 
115 



CONTENTS 



IX 



A Caiial-boat and Canal-lock 
A Visit to the Shipping Docks 
A Ferry-boat Ride at New York 
The Brooklyn Bridge 
A Trip on the Elevated Road 



PAGE 

115 
117 
117 
117 
118 



CHAPTER IV 

Gardex, Fakm, and Dairy 

Excursion to a Nursery .... 

The H. B. Gurler Dairy, De Kalb, Illinois . 
Excursion to the Creamery at Cornell, Ithaca, N 
Local Study of Soils ..... 
Irrigation and Farming about San Antonio 
Other Topics outlined for the Garden, Farm, an 
Trips to the Garden in Spring and Fall 
Trip to the Farm. Grain-raising. Stock 

The Hothouse 

The Orchard . ' 




CHAPTER V 




Government 




Local Town Government and the Court-house . 


. 143 


Springfield, Illinois , 


. U4: 


Outline : 




The City Hall and Officers ..... 


. 151 


The Fire Department . . . . , . 


. 151 


The Waterworks = . 


. 151 


The Gas-works ....... 


. 151 


The City Schools ....... 


. 152 



EXCURSIONS AND LESSONS 

IN 

HOME GEOGRAPHY 



EXCURSIONS AND LESSONS IN 
HOME GEOGRAPHY 

CHAPTER I 

LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 

EXCUESION TO THE NORMAL SCHOOL ToWER 

The excursion with a class of third grade cliildren 
to the tower of the Northern Illinois Normal School 
was designed to giA^e a broad survey of the country 
about De Kalb. The tower is about ninety feet high 
and gives a good view, five or six miles in all direc- 
tions, including prairie, woods, creek, the town of 
De Kalb, farms, fields, etc. 

1. Before taking the trip the teacher made a visit 
to the tower and studied the surrounding country, 
thinking out a series of topics which would interest 
and instruct the children as observation material. 

2. Just before the children began the trip, fifteen 
minutes were spent with the class on such questions 
as the following : At what places in De Kalb can one 
get a good view of the surrounding town and country ? 
They mentioned a few such places, as the water- 
tower, the tops of some high buildings, windmills, 
and steeples. Name some of the objects which you 



2 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

will be able to see from the top of the Normal School 
Tower. What else will you be able to see from this 
tower ? How far can you see ? Can you see your 
homes? How high is the tower? Tliey named 
several things, — creek, railroad, bridges, water-to wei-, 
factories, homes, etc., and pointed, naming directions. 

With these preliminary questions and discussions it 
was thought the children would be more acute and 
definite in their observations when the opportunity 
was given. 

3. The children, about fifteen in number, climbed' 
five stairways to the top of the tower, when they 
came out into the open, and quickly began to name 
and locate objects in one direction after another. 

(ci^ In particular toward the south they notice the 
natural woods, the two bridges across the creek, tlie 
shoe factory, the creamery, the fields and farms 
beyond, and the distant course of the creek. 

(1)\ Toward the north are seen the open fields and 
pastures, ploughed fields, cattle and liorses, stacks of 
straw, corn in the shocks, and in the distance, six 
miles away, dimly, the water-tower of Sycamore, a 
neighboring town. 

(c) To the east, across the creek, lies the town of 
De Kalb, with the stores, nine tall factory chimneys, 
several church towers, the water-tower, the gas-tank, 
and the clusters of houses. They notice also some of 
the streets and point out their own homes. Beyond 
the town they can see the farms and fields of the 
level country. 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 3 

{(P) The country to the west is a broad rolling 
prairie dotted with groves and farmhouses, with big 
barns and windmills. Stock is seen in the pastures, 
and the fields are mostly brown with autumn. The 
little creek or brook that passes through the campus 
can be seen in its course two miles or more to the 
west, also the slopes on either side. From these 
slopes comes the wB^ter that fills the brook at the 
time of the spring floods. 

(A The children call attention to the line where 
the sky and earth seem to meet and call it the horizon. 
How far away is it ? What is its shape on all sides ? 
How big a circle can we see across, with the tower 
as a centre ? Can we see the whole county ? Tlie 
children notice the small size of objects like men or 
cattle, as we look down upon them. 

(e/) ^^^ notice that along the course of the creek 
to the east and north for several miles there are 
natural groves of hardwood trees. Toward the west 
lies the prairie, with only such groves and orchards 
as men have planted. Once it was treeless prairie. 
Toward the east also is the town with its smoking 
chimneys and crowded houses ; toward the west the 
open country with its fenced fields and scattered 
farm dwellings, groves, etc. While the children are 
observing from the tower, they shoidcl be called 
together and asked specific questions about the things 
seen, so as to give definiteness to their observations ; 
otherwise they will fail to see clearly the important 
things. 



4 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

The next day it is found necessary to have a dis- 
cussion of the experiences gathered upon the excursion. 
Let the children explain one after another tlie things 
observed in tlie four directions. To gire definiteness 
to these reproductions have a large piece of drawing 
or wrapping paper laid flat upon the floor, upon which 
to draw a map with the schoolhouse and campus as 
the centre. The course of the creek is drawn also 
upon this, and the location of forest, city, fields, and 
all objects of interest noted. Let the teacher draw 
this map before the children, and have them explain 
the direction and the proper location of creek, bridges, 
railroad, water-tower, etc. 

Let the children also give complete verbal state- 
ments of the things seen, with as little ciuestioning as 
possible, using the five topics as a basis. The map 
can now be hung up on the wall, and the directions, 
fixed before in their natural position, still retained 
in this changed position. Somewdiat later it may be 
well to make a more careful study of . the slopes and 
to form a sand map which illustrates surface features. 
An excursion outdoors, along the little creek, to get 
the ups and downs, the hills and slopes, and the level 
flats near the brook, is advisable, as a preparation for 
the sand map. This will lead the children to observe 
more closely the arrangement of slopes and variations 
in level. 

Later still it may be well to show the map of the 
state of Illinois, including De Kalb Coimty, and thus 
bring their experiences about the home into relation 




Fig. 3. 
The brook in the school campus. 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 5 

to the wall map, and then finally to the United 
States, and to the world. 

After this preliminary board sketching a map of 
the town, sliowing a few chief highways leading out 
to the country and to neighboring towns, may be 
made by each pupil, applying a definite scale of an 
inch or half-inch to the mile. 

The location and direction of the neighboring towns 
and the railroads connecting with them should be 
shown by sketches made by the teacher on the black- 
board. 

Any sketching done by the teacher on the board 
may be recjuired later from the children, so that they 
may learn to express themselves freely in maps. The 
sketching of these maps on the board or on paper, 
and the writing of the names of objects or places, 
may be profitable exercise in seat work during the 
study period. 

In case the children need a topic for written lan- 
guage, it would be wise to use these topics developed 
in the excursion as a basis for such written work. 

It is advisable to take a similar excursion with 
these children in June, when the fields show a wholly 
different aspect and the woods and groves are in leaf. 

View from the Blupfs at Winona, Minnesota 

An excursion to the top of the bluffs that border 
the Mississippi River at Winona, Minnesota,, may be 
used to illustrate the relation of the local topography 



6 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

and commerce to siiiiilar topics in the later study of 
the United States and of foreign countries. 

1. The autlior has made this trip with a class to 
the summit of tlie bluffs, six hundred feet above the 
river. The valley between the bluffs of Wisconsin 
and Minnesota at this point is about four miles wide, 
and the bluffs on both sides are forest-covered, except 
where a steep rocky cliff or limestone stratum stands 
out in plain view. The bottom lands are partly 
swampy and forest-covered, partly occupied by open 
fields and farms. 

From the edge of the western bluff, at Winona, one 
can look up and down the river many miles, and see 
the receding line of cliffs, fading into blue, fifteen or 
twenty miles toward the north, and rising in moun- 
tainlike peaks tow^ard the south. The great trough 
at one's feet is from four to seven miles wide, and 
six hundred feet below the level of the prairie and 
woodlands on either side of the river. The narrow 
course of the stream, like a silver ribbon, can be 
traced as it winds back and forth across the low- 
lands. 

An occasional steamboat can be seen passing up or 
down the river, stopping at the levee at Winona to 
unload and take on goods. It passes under the high 
bridge that crosses to the Wisconsin side from Winona. 
More often still the railroad trains are seen at the 
foot of the bluffs, speeding their way up and down 
the valley on both sides of the river. It is quite 
evident, from the number of trains, that the railroads 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEIVS 1 

carry by far the greater quantity of goods as compared 
with tlie steamboats. 

Tlie cliimneys and stacks of the big sawmills and 
planing-mills, with their immense piles of lumber, are 
seen close by the river, and a rafting steamer may be 
observed at times, guiding a large log raft down the 
stream. The logs come from the pineries of Wisconsin. 

The city of Winona is built on a long bed of sand, 
only about ten feet or less above the river at high 
water. The city extends five or six miles up and 
down the bank of the river, but only half or three- 
fourths of a mile in width. Wagon roads lead up 
and down the valley, and also climb through the 
little valleys to the prairie regions beyond the bluffs, 
bringing the produce of the farms. One railroad 
passes westward from Winona, through a winding 
valley, and after fifteen or twent}'^ miles of steep 
grades, reaches the prairie lands six hundred feet 
above Winona. 

On both sides of the river we can see, in the rocky 
slopes of the bluff's, a strip of limestone in which the 
quarries for securing building stone are found. One 
bluff, the Sugar Loaf, is almost effaced by quarries. 

For several miles back from the face of the bluffs 
the country is hilly and broken, being deeply cut up 
by the lateral valleys and gulches reaching back from 
the river, and leading to the uplands. But in many 
places the level country at the top of the bluffs is 
covered with grain fields which are continued away 
westward for hundreds of miles. 



8 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

The children may observe all the things we have 
mentioned, and many more, in the course of one or 
two excursions to these prominent points of view. 
The stratified rock appearing at like elevation on 
opposite sides of the river suggests that the stream in 
the course of ages has worn out this huge trough, and 
carried the waste seaward. 

2. It will not be specially difficult, on the basis of 
such observations as those indicated above, to lead the 
children of Winona on an imaginary trip up the 
Mississippi to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and down to 
St. Louis and Cairo, and to give them a tolerably 
correct idea of the valley for a thousand miles of its 
upper navigable course. The river throughout this 
whole distance is lined with bluffs from two to six 
hundred feet high, and furnishes in summer time 
a steamboat trip with a great variety of imposing, 
beautiful views. The large rivers entering through 
broad, deep valleys from either side swell the current 
of the great stream till it is a mile in width. The 
prosperous cities along its course are sometimes in the 
valley close down by the river, in other cases rising 
upon the sloping hills and bluffs in commanding 
position. 

The commerce of the river by steamboat, the raft- 
ing and lumber business, the trunk railroad lines up 
and down the valley for nearly the whole distance, can 
be interpreted and understood by the children from 
their observations at Winona. 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 



Steamboat Trip to Taughannock Falls 

Embarking in a steam launch at Ithaca, New 
York, in an hour and a half we reach the landing 
which leads up the 
gorge to Taughannock 
Falls. Approaching 
the landing spot, we 
notice a decided pro- 
jection of the land 
into the lake. It is 
really a broad belt of 
flat land extending 
into the lake, beyond 
the base of the hills 
which border the lake 
at nearly all points. 
As it lies directly in 
front of the outlet of 
the gorge we are led 
to guess that it has 
been formed by the 
stream issuing from 
the gorge. Following 
a path over this flat 
land we come to a 
road leading across a 
bridge which spans the creek. Looking up this creek 
perhaps two hundred yards, we see the lofty cliffs 




Fig. i. 

Taughannock Falls (215 feet high) , on the 
western side of Cayuga Lake, a few 
miles north of Ithaca. 



10 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

which guard tlie entrance to the gorge, and just 
below a ledge of limestone rock some fifteen or 
twenty feet thick over which the creek makes a 
cascading fall. 

This l^elt or stratum of limestone we had before 
noticed from the boat, stretching along the shore line 
on the other side of the lake, where it is dug out 
from the top of the hill and iised in connection with 
the underlying shales in making Portland cement. 

The water of the creek in its action has loosened 
some of the upper layers of limestone and broken 
them into two or three shelves, and the great plates 
or fragments of the loosened stone give an irregular- 
ity to the falls. Just underneath the limestone at the 
foot of the falls the softer shales are washed out, 
leaving a suggestion of undermining the solid rock 
above. Directly above these falls the bed of the 
river is framed by solid limestone which has been 
more or less scoured by the water and its erosive 
materials. A little to one side of the main current a 
great number of shallow holes in the upper surface 
of the rocks mark the beginnings of pot-holes which 
are gradually ground out by pebbles being whirled 
around in the hole by the water. Pebbles are found 
lying in these holes. 

At the left side of the falls above the limestone was 
a great cliff of what are known as Genesee shales, 
thin, paperlike layers of rock wdiich crumble easily 
and can be pulled down in ciuantities with the ham- 
mer. These shales are dark in color and extend up 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 11 

the side of the cliff a hundred feet. Surmounting 
these above are harder rock in strata. In passing up 
the gorge for a mile these shales are everywhere seen. 
Sometimes they show a sloping talus of loose broken 
shale which has crumbled from the sides of the cliffs. 
Occasionally, where a small stream, in rainy weather, 
has broken over the cliff, it has carried this loose 
shale down and formed a shale cone or talus cone at 
the bottom of the cliff. When the spring floods in 
the creek rise in the valley, it sweeps down the loose 
rock material and carries it toward the delta in the 
lake. This small broken shale is constantlj^ tum- 
bling down the slopes, more or less, as we noticed 
upon the excursion, and in the spring after the winter 
frosts and spring floods have loosened the rocks it is 
dangerous to walk beneath many of these steep cliffs 
by reason of dropping rock material. The fact that 
very little of this loose shale is seen as talus at the 
foot of the cliffs near the creek is proof that the 
stream in flood time rapidly carries it toward the lake. 
In this way the valley is widened somewhat rapidly, 
and the lake has been filled up to a depth of perhaps 
two or three hundred feet, and over an area covering 
many acres. It is not difficult to see that this gorge 
a mile long, nearly three hundred feet deep, and on 
the average perhaps five or six hundred feet wide, has 
sent a vast amount of rock stuff into the lake. 

The walls of this gorge are in many cases perpendicu- 
lar and from two hundred to two hundred and eighty 
feet high. In a few cases the upper rocks overhang 



12 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGBAPHY 

the valley in a threatening manner. Great buttresses 
and castellated rocks mark the upper third of the 
cliff and produce a powerful scenic effect. In other 
places the valley widens out and the sloping shelves 
of talus rock lie at the foot of great shale cliffs. The 
smooth face of the exposed rocks shows in other 
places that the rock has split off in large slabs along 
joint-planes, leaving what appears to be a solid mass 
of hard, smooth stone. Elsewhere the surface is very 
rough and jagged, and is made up of thin, loose, and 
easily broken sheets of shaly stone. 

Along the rocky bed of the stream and at the rock- 
rimmed sides the layers of flat rock are split or frac- 
tured, showing great seams. These seams between 
the rocks are sometimes horizontal, sometimes vertical, 
and running in different directions they divide these 
stratified masses into blocks and cubes. Water 
getting into tliese joint-planes and freezing, splits 
them still farther apart or breaks them into smaller 
fragments. The roots of trees and bushes also grow 
into the cracks between the rocks on the edge of the 
stream or cliffs, and pry the rocks apart. The roar- 
ing torrents of the spring floods have great power to 
seize these loosened slabs and hurl them down the 
stream, at the same time breaking the rocks and 
scouring the channel. The evidences of this erosive 
power of the stream are seen in the flat, broken rocks 
scattered along the bed and piled up at intervals. 

The general erosive power of the stream is plainly 
seen in its effects in the narrower channels, where the 



LOCAL SCENEBY AND VIEWS 13 

water has plainly cut a channel in the solid rock, 
while the shelves of projecting strata on either side 
indicate the successive levels of the stream. Along 
most of its way the stream flows over a solid rocky 
bed. On the sides in a few places there is a succession 
of steps almost as regular as if chiselled out by man. 

The water flowing in a small creek over a rocky 
bed does not ordinarily show much erosive power. 
The water is clear and mostly free from gravel or 
sand. But in times of rain and flood it is easy to 
see that great quantities of loose shale and gravel 
must be swept down the stream, scouring the bed. 

At a few points the sides of the gorge were so close 
to the creek that it was difficult to climb along the 
ledge and not get into tlie water. Road building 
would therefore be difficult without blasting out the 
sides in these narrow places. There is, however, no 
well-marked path or road up this gorge. 

At no point, however, is the gorge less than two 
hundred feet in width, and in many places the broken 
rocks and shale are piled up in long islands with the 
current of the creek running along both sides of them. 
This great quantity of rock debris and the loose talus 
at the foot of the cliffs are sufficient proof of the 
erosive power of the stream and the weathering along 
the valley sides. 

The broader openings and flats of the gorge are 
covered with trees of considerable size and with 
bushes, and some of the slopes are partly covered with 
forest growth. 



14 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

111 making our way up the valley and past a grove 
of trees and bushes v^^e come in sight suddenly of 
Taughannock Falls at the head of the gorge, two hun- 
dred and fifteen feet in height, and about thirty feet 
wide. It is a surpassingly beautiful sight, witli just 
enough water in the streani to give it a steady pour, 
and to maintain the uniform appearance and shape 
for the entire plunge to the pool below. 

It is girt round by a vast amphitheatre of rock, 
whose upper strata, nearly three hundred feet above 
the bottom of the glen, overhang the smooth vertical 
rocks below, which end in a sloping talus. 

The creek has cut its way through the upper rock 
strata above to a depth of about sixty feet before 
making the plunge. At the bottom it drops into a 
deep pool from which it glides over the rim of rocks 
below. On the left side of the pool at the bottom of 
the steep rock are huge blocks of stone which have 
split off from the cliffs above and form the beginning 
of a talus slope close to the falls. A single block 
must weigh many tons. The spray from the falls is 
blown out along these rock surfaces of the cliff and 
over the pool to us a hundred feet aw^a}^ Perhaps 
the constant wetting and freezing of these in the 
winter is one reason why they so rapidly weather 
and split off on both sides of the falls, causing the 
valley to widen out here into a broad amphitheatre. 

In many places the walls of this mile of gorge are 
so steep that it is impossible to climb them. Just 
above the falls the amphitheatre of cliffs is too steep 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 15 

to be ascended, though some daring efforts have been 
made. Some of the students of our party, at a slop- 
ing side of the gorge farther down, climbed to the top 
of the cliffs where a path had been made and steps 
partly worked out, but it was a difficult climb, giving, 
however, a commanding view into the deep chasm. 
As there is no outlet from the upper part of the gorge, 
no road has ever been built leading from it to the 
uplands beyond. 

It is evident that the high cliff of nearly three 
hundred feet over whicli the creek leaps is a complete 
obstruction to road-making up this valley. Other 
creek valleys leading from the basin of Cayuga Lake 
into the uplands are natural roadways to the farm 
lands and villages beyond. Salmon Creek, for ex- 
ample, on the opposite side of the lake, two or three 
miles southward, has such a road following its valley 
past the village of Ludlowville. 

It is evident, therefore, t1iat the high precipice which 
gives such a beautiful fall at the head of the gorge 
is a complete hindrance in this case at least to 
road-building and commerce. 

, This fall might, however, be used as an excellent 
water power. The objections to this are : (1^ that it 
would destroy one of the most beautiful pieces of 
scenery in New York State ; and (2) the quantity of 
water passing over this fall is very irregular and unre- 
liable, almost disappearing in the dry seasons. In spite 
of these things, however, it might be used to advantage 
as a water power. Some distance above this fall, in 



16 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

the upper part of the valley, was built one of the first 
grist-mills in the early history of this part of New 
York. In similar gorges, near Ithaca, the water power 
has been long used for mills, and at one of the falls 
within the grounds of Cornell University a complete 
plant for illustrating a system of hydraulics, water 
wheels, etc., has been established. 

On our return trip to the mouth of the gorge we 
were able to estimate more fidly the vast amount of 
waste rock and gravel which has been washed down 
from the gorge into the lake. Observing again the 
width of perhaps six hundred feet on the average, a 
mile in length, and a depth of perhaps two hundred 
feet or more on the average, we get some proof of the 
power of weathering and stream action in carving out 
a valley. Coming out of the entrance of the gorge, 
we have a broad alluvial plain of perhaps forty acres, 
extending out into the lake, with a fine old apple 
orchard, rich meadows, and woods upon it. Origi- 
nally the depth of the lake where the delta now lies 
may have been between two hundred and three hun- 
dred feet. It has been filled up and its surface con- 
verted into rich tillable land by the action of this 
creek in washing out rock waste into the lake. At 
the mouth of Salmon Creek, on the other side of the 
lake, a few miles farther south is a still larger delta 
formed in the lake in the same way. It is covered 
with corn-fields, orchards, and by a factory plant and 
other houses, while up the valley a short distance is a 
village with a highway into the uplands. 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 17 

On a still larger scale at the head of Cayuga Lake 
is an extensive delta formed by the streams entering 
the lake from the south, — Six-mile Creek and Cayuga 
Inlet. This flat delta is two miles or more in length, 
and a mile wide at its lower end, and has been formed 
by these streams which have filled up the whole 
upper end of the lake. The city of Ithaca is built 
mainly upon the higher part of this delta, and the hill 
slopes beyond. There is talk now of deepening the 
northern outlet of the lake about three feet so as to 
lower the whole lake and drain out the low swampy 
part of the delta near Ithaca. This would have the 
double advantage of removing the danger of low 
swamp lands near the city, and also of bringing a large 
tract of excellent land under cultivation or into use 
for buildings, factories, etc. By an examination of 
the entire map of Cayuga Lake we may observe that 
wherever a stream of any consecjuence enters it a 
delta is formed, with such results as we have noted 
above. 

The description of Taughannock Falls and gorge is 
found to repeat itself in certain parts of our country 
under varjnng conditions. For example, Deer Park, 
a small gorge opening into the Vermilion River, and 
that into the Illinois River, near La Salle, Illinois, is 
just such a gorge with a fall at its upper end. Chey- 
enne Canon and Falls near Manitou, Colorado, in the 
neighborhood of Pike's Peak, is very similar to Taug- 
hannock Falls, only the caiion walls rise to a height of 
a thousand feet. Minnehaha Falls, within the limits 



18 . LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

of Minneapolis and near tlie junction of the Mississippi 
River and the Minnesota Riv^er, dro'p into a canon or 
gorge about eighty feet deep and repeat most of the 
phenomena of Taughannock Falls. Nearly all the 
small streams that come into the Upper Mississippi 
from the east or west, cut their way down through 
deep valleys which repeat many of the facts described 
above. Most of the rivers which are tributaries of 
the Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc., on the western 
slope of tlie Alleghanies, are similar to the streams 
flowing into Cayuga Lake. The same is true of the 
rivers which break through the foot-hills west of 
Denver and all along the eastern rim of the Rocky 
Mountains for a thousand miles. The river valleys 
of Virginia and the Carolinas, as their streams break 
through the mountains into the piedmont belt and 
to the tide-water region, repeat these same phenomena. 
The shores of the Great Lakes, where the streams 
come down from the uplands to the coast, as along 
Lakes Superior and Michigan, exhibit the same va- 
riety of canons and falls. Niagara Falls and gorge, 
Minneapolis Falls and gorge, are almost identical in 
structure and explanation to those of Taughannock or 
Cayuga Lake. 

Hundreds of other gorges and river valleys could 
be pointed out in the United States and North 
America. 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIETVS 19 



Sea Bathing oisr the East Coast of Florida 

One of the pleasures of Northern people living in 
Florida during the late winter and spring months is a 
visit to the seacoast. Daytona, about fifty miles 
south of St. Augustine on the east coast, is one of 
those delightful towns which has become the winter 
home of many Northern people. For many miles the 
Halifax River, from a half to three-cjuarters of a 
mile wide', runs southward parallel to the coast, 
leaving a narrow strip of land two-thirds of a mile 
wide, separating the river from the ocean. 

Along the inner, or western bank of this river, 
among beautiful groves and thickets of live oak, pine, 
and palmetto, lies the town of Daytona, a paradise 
of beautiful homes, forested streets, and perfect roads 
for bicycles and carriages. 

From the town three long bridges stretch across 
the Halifax River to the strip of wooded land whose 
eastern margin is washed hy the tides of the ocean. 
This wooded peninsula is laid off by pleasant streets 
and adorned with manj^ parklike grounds and luxu- 
rious winter homes built by Northern w^ealth. It reallj^ 
consists of a series of sand ridges or dunes, with low 
swales between, built up by the ocean tides and 
winds. 

On its eastern edge is the last of these sand ridges, 
rising fifteen or twenty feet above high tide and 
wide enough for a row of cottages facing the ocean 



20 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

and used by people who wish to spend a few days 
or weeks on the ocean shore and beach. 

Landing at Daytona with a family of five boys 
and girls, the youngest three years old, we soon found 
a hack to carry us across the bridge to the seashore. 
The ocean as it came in sight w^as greeted with a 
shout, for inland children are strongly impressed at 
the first view^ of the wide-spreading waters, and by 
the noise of the breakers pounding on the sandy 
beach. Before the grown folks could get to their feet, 
the children were down at the water's edge, gathering 
shells and running up and down the smooth sands. 

A five-room cottage, simply furnished for house- 
keeping, was soon arranged for at the grocer}?" store 
near the beach, where we also secured our provisions. 
Our trunks were brought over from the station, and 
we w^ere soon settled for a two or three weeks' sta}^ 
within the sound of the breakers. 

It was during the last half of April, and the weather 
was warm and sunny, like warm days in June in 
Northern climates, and the children were eager to get 
their bathing-suits on and learn to tumble about in 
the waves which rolled in gently along the shallow 
beach. The children w^ere soon read}^ for a plunge, 
and the older folks likewise. Then chasing down 
the ridge and across the sands, they splashed into the 
waters which, at first, seemed a little chill, but after 
a plunge or two proved quite comfortable. The 
little girls capered about in the shallow waters up to 
their knees, then rolled and tumbled as if they had 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 



21 



suddenly taken to the notion that salt water was 
their natural element. 

Some of the older folks waded out two hundred 
feet or more to where the inrolling waves broke in 
white caps upon the shallow sands, and standing- 
would brace themselves to receive the splash of the 
great waves which would often roll over their heads. 
Just beyond these breakers was good swimming- 
ground for men, but often the undertow makes it 




Fig. 5. 
On the beach at bathing time. 



dangerous for many people to go out so far. Stand- 
ing in water two feet deep one can feel the strong 
undertow sweeping seaward and undermining the 
sands upon which one is standing. 

After a quarter of an hour or more of lively sport 
with the inpouring waves, we would run up the beach 
and climb the ridge to our cottage, and by the time 
we had rubbed down and dressed again lunch time 
was greeted with a hearty appetite. 

All along the beach as the tide comes in the bathers 



22 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

from tlio cottages and liotels may be seen taking the 
refreshment of these sea baths. Sometimes the 
bathers get out on the dry, sandy beach and run up 
and down for exercise, or go through with gymnastic 
drills for development of limbs and chest. Every 
day almost the bathing time presents a livel}^ scene, 
and the children are always ready for its return. 

But there are also plenty of other sports for those 
who seek the seashore. When the tide is out the 
long strip of hard sand is as smooth and hard as a 
floor, so that carriage wheels and even horses' hoofs 
hardly dent it. Then the l^icyclers, of whom there 
are many, go spinning along for miles over an almost 
perfect road. Carriages and automobiles also find 
this the best of driveways, and the bracing sea air 
and the broad ocean view, with the long line of white 
breakers, furnish a scenery and music which with 
many people do not grow tiresome. 

The children wandered up and down the beach, 
observing and collecting the curious shells, clams, and 
crabs which are washed up from the sea. Or they 
take their shovels and pans and scoop the sands, dig 
trenches and watch the waves come in to destroy their 
work. Early in the morning the older boys would 
often go out upon the beach to gather the finer speci- 
mens of shells washed shoreward during the night, 
before they were captured by the regular shell hunters. 

Two long piers at two hotels about a mile apart 
reach out several hundred feet into the w^ater. They 
consist of tree trunks, or piles driven dow^n into the 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 23 

sands in two rows and some fifteen feet apart, upon 
which is built a floor and passageway to walk out 
to the fishing stand and shed at the end of the pier. 
At some seasons many fish are caught from the 
piers, such as sea-bass, whitings, and occasionally a 
shark. 

But in April most of the fishing was done from 
the long bridges which cross the Halifax River. 
From sun-up all through the day the fishermen move 
up and down these bridges fishing and casting for the 
crevalle, bass, trout, crabs, etc. The boys enjoyed 
an occasional trip to the bridge, and several times 
brought home a good string of fish which we cleaned 
and cooked and enjoyed all the more from the fact 
that they were caught by the boys themselves. 

The small coquina clam (whose shell is less than 
an inch long) is washed up by the tide in great num- 
bers, and oftentimes the boys would shovel them into 
a box with a sieve bottom, and wash them free from 
sand in the sea water. A pailful of these clams 
when washed and boiled make a delicious soup which 
we often relished. 

Another interesting sight which we witnessed from 
the cottage or from the beach while bathing was the 
movement of a school of porpoises just outside the 
breakers. They would shoot along sometimes under 
water, then springing out of it or showing their black 
sides above the surface. Occasionally one of these 
porpoises would move up the river from the sea, scar- 
ing the fish before it, puffing now and then as it rose 



24 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

above the water, and then disappearing to rise again 
several rods farther on in its course. 

Besides the cottages there are several large hotels 
and boarding-houses where }jeople are entertained for 
a few days or weeks. The drives along the coast 
and among the groves and parks back from the sea 
give a great variety of scenery. 

From our cottage we" could see at night the glare 
of the light from the lighthouse on the coast twelve 
miles below us, and two or three times we saw the 
lights of a vessel moving southward out at sea, or in 
the daytime the smoke of a passing steamer could be 
seen though the vessel itself was out of sight. 

Once the children on bicycles took a trip six miles 
up the beach to Ormond and saw in the water's edge 
tlie rotting timbers of a ship that had been wrecked 
upon this coast. 

In the winter time many Northern people spend a 
few months at Daytona in their homes or in hotels, 
and even during the winter months there is usually 
some bathing along the beach. In the summer 
months, when the interior of Florida is hot and 
sultry, many people come to the seashore to enjo}^ 
the cooler breezes. In the summer time, therefore, 
the cottages are full of Soutliern people and their 
children, and man}^ excursions are made from the 
interior towns to the coast. In this way Daytona 
has a double season, one for the Northern tourists in 
winter time and one for the Southern people in 
summer. 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 



25 



At many points along the east and west coast are 
these resorts, which become more popular from 3^ear 
to year. The same maybe said of the whole Atlantic 
coast from Maine to Florida. On the coast of the 
Carolinas, Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and 
Maine are found these popular seaside resorts, where 
thousands and thousands of people find the refreshing 
sea bath and the cool breezes which are so much 
needed in the warm months of summei'. 




¥iG. 6. 
A view of Denver. 

Denver, Colorado 

The city of Denver has grown into importance 
more rapidly than any other city along the eastern 
rim of the Rocky Mountains. We may inquire into 
the reasons which have made it such a beautiful and 
important centre of population. 

The city is located on the south fork of the Platte 
River, a little north of the centre of Colorado. It lies 
in a plain sloping to the banks of the river, about ten 
miles from the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains. 
Stretching from north to south, the main ridge of the 



26 LESSONS IN HOME GEOCrUAPHY 

moimtaiiis, at the nearest point about forty miles away, 
can be seen for one liundred and fifty miles. On 
account of the clear skies, these mountains can be dis- 
tinctly seen at nearly all times from Denver. This 
transparent clearness of the air is partly due to the fact 
that Denver lies a mile above sea level, and paitly to the 
fact that the weather is seldom cloudy. Even the 
summer rains and storms are of short duration, and it 
is only at long intervals that the weather is cloudy and 
rainy for several days in succession. The mountains 
are far enough away to take on a beautiful haze and 
a crimson tint, which usually gives their ridges a 
dreamy, smooth outline that leaves a distinct impres- 
sion of fairy-land. This grand, expansive view of the 
mountains is a perennial pleasure, and to one who 
has left this region for the plain land of tlie Mississippi 
Valley states leaves a distinct feeling of loss. 

Pike's Peak, sixt}^ miles away to the south, is a 
great landmark, always in view, and most of the 
year shows a round top covered with snow. Some 
fifty miles away to the northwest, is Long's Peak, 
equally a notable landmark upon the horizon of the 
mountains. Between these runs the irregular chain 
of ridges and lesser peaks. Each of these two moun- 
tains looks down upon one of the mountain parks or 
broader upland valleys for which Colorado is famous. 
Coming down from the main chain are many small 
rivers and mountain streams which have cut out deep 
caiion ways and broken through the foot-hills upon 
the plain to join the Platte River. The roads leading 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 27 

up through these river gorges guide to many of the 
summer camping places of Denver families, in the 
midst of the wild scenery of the mountains. Eastward 
from Denver stretch away the monotonous plains 
toward Kansas and Nebraska. 

In 1859, when gold was discovered in the foot-hills 
and river sands within sight of Pike's Peak, there was 
a large immigration to Colorado of people seeking their 
fortunes. It was much like the migration to California 
ten years earlier. 

It was about this time that Denver had its be- 
ginnings and sprang into active business life as a 
centre for those interested in mining. In the early 
days the sands at the mouths of the creeks emerging 
from the mountain canons were washed for gold in 
what was called placer mining. There are no mines 
in the immediate neighborhood of Denver, but along 
the caiions of Clear Creek, reaching up forty miles 
to Georgetown, there are many gold and silver mines. 
At Black Hawk, Silver Cliff, Leadville, and later at 
Cripple Creek, rich mines were located. The small 
mountain towns, perched among the narrow valleys, 
could never grow into cities ; but Denver, as a general 
distributing centre for goods to all these remote places 
in the mountains, had plenty of room and a pleasing 
site for people who had acquired wealth in mining or 
who had capital for carrying on mercantile business. 

In 1876, when Colorado was admitted as a state, 
Denver had grown to such importance and was so 
centrally located, that it easily became the capital of 



28 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

the state. Since then it lias had a remarkable growth, 
and because of its large and costly Imildings, and of 
all sorts of city improvements, parks, streets, etc., has 
become one of the most attractive, progressive cities 
of our land. 

In its early days Denver v^^as almost destitute of 
trees. Close to the river a few cottonwoods might 
be found, but the "dry, sandy plain, sloping toward the 
river, must have been at first almost a desert. But 
an irrigation ditch taken from the Platte River, ten 
miles up-stream to the south, was conducted to the 
upper part of the slope, a mile or more east of the 
river, and from this tw^elve-foot ditch small streams 
were draw^n off to trickle along the roots of young 
trees planted for shade and ornament along the streets. 
The cottonwoods were planted almost exclusively at 
first, then maples, box elders, and others. By 1880 
many of the residence streets w^ere well shaded, 
and there were many beautiful lawns, gardens, and 
residences. 

A system of cit}^ waterworks was early established, 
the water being collected in a lake or reservoir above 
the city, near the Platte. This water was good 
both for household purposes and for lawns, and for 
the fire department. Many gardens and fields were 
also irrigated from the above-mentioned city ditch. 

About 1880 the big ditch taken from the river some 
twenty-five miles above Denver brought under culti- 
vation a wide strip of country on the east bank of 
the Platte ; and upon the slopes below the ditch farms 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 29 

and gardens were laid out, which could supply the 
city with a great amount of garden truck, fruits, dairy 
products, melons, farm supplies, etc. 

The strip of land, about ten miles wide, between 
Denver and the foot-hills, is supplied with water for 
irrigation from artificial lakes, formed by dams in 
the small streams coming down from the mountains. 
This w^hole region is now a rich and fruitful garden 
land, supplying strawberries, cabbages, and other 
garden truck to the city. 

In the development of mining industries, Denver 
has become the centre of much wealth. Rich mine 
owners have found it the best place for their families. 
Many costly and beautiful mansions have been built, 
and the public buildings, especiallj^ the court-house 
and the state-house on Capitol Hill, are notable struc- 
tures. The opera house and the great business blocks 
and streets present an array of splendid buildings 
which could hardly be expected in a young city. 

Northwest of the city are located the great smelters, 
wdiere the gold and silver ore collected from the stamp- 
mills in many of the mountain towns is smelted. 
Here the ore is melted and separated into the pure 
metals and slag. The great smelting furnaces run 
day and night and Sundays, and turn out the refined 
metal in the form of bricks. 

One of the remarkable facts in regard to Denver is 
the development of her public school system. Money 
has been spent lavishly upon fully equipped modern 
school buildings. In spite of its exceedingly rapid 



so Ll^SSONS m HOME GEOGBAPHY 

growth, the erection of fine school buildings, archi- 
tecturally beautiful, and superior in interior arrange- 
ment and solid construction, has kept up with the 
growing demands. Tlie great high school building 
was liberally conceived, and built in successive parts 
as the demands grew. There is, perhaps, scarcely a 
city in the country where more experienced and better- 
paid teachers have been regularly employed. This 
acknowledged excellence of the schools has been one 
reason wdiy many people of a superior class have 
chosen to settle in Denver, and its fine school system 
has been one of the main causes of its rapid develop- 
ment in population. 

The University of Denver is beautifully located at 
a suburb, four or five miles south of the city, where 
extensive buildings and beautiful grounds have been 
laid out, and wdiere the same grand view of the moun- 
tains is always spread out in full display. An elec- 
tric line connects this and otlier suburbs with the city. 
Under these conditions, a boy or girl can secure in 
Denver a complete education from the kindergarten 
through the university. 

In its early years Denver had no railroad connect- 
ing it with the East. It w^as reached by wagon or 
stage over the plains from Kansas City or Omaha. 
But when the Union Pacific w^as built, a branch of it 
ran down to Denver. Later the Santa Fe at Pueblo 
w^as connected with Denver by the Rio Grande Rail- 
road, which follow^ed the Arkansas to Leadville. 
Later other Eastern roads, as the Northwestern and 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 31 

the Burlington, came direct to Denver. A trunk line 
connects Denver with Galveston on the Gulf, and 
several lines extend westward across the mountains. 
Denver has thus become the railroad centre of the 
West, and a splendid union depot was built some 
years ago, where all trains come in and go out. The 
street-car system of the city also radiates from this 
same centre, leading to all parts. Besides serving as 
a centre for tlie shipment of ores, Denver is the chief 
point for wholesale trade, and for outfitters going into 
the mines. 

For many years tourists going into the Rocky 
Mountains have made Denver their starting-point, 
either for Manitou and the region of Pike's Peak, 
or to Estes Park near Long's Peak. The number of 
tourists in summer time has greatly increased in 
recent years on account of the very cheap rates 
offered by railroads from Cliicago and other cities. 

A number of important cities are located, like Den- 
ver, at the eastern edge of the mountain uplift. Pueblo, 
one hundred and twenty miles south of Denver, is even 
more favorably located than Denver for the smelting 
of ores. It lies on the Arkansas River, at its outlet 
from the rich mining towns of southern Colorado, 
which, like Leadville, send their output through the 
Royal Gorge, where the river cuts its mile-deep caiion 
through the mighty ridge of the Rockies. Between 
Pueblo and Denver lies the considerable city of Colo- 
rado Springs, at the foot of Pike's Peak, and near 
Manitou, the great summer resort of Colorado. This 



32 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

region is especially helpful to many people suffering 
with lung troubles. 

Helena, in Montana, l3'ing in the mountains of the 
North, is the Denver of tliat region, while the ancient 
city of Santa Fe, with its largely Mexican population, 
is the natural centre of trade and population in New 
Mexico. Many smaller cities, as Cheyenne, Greeley, 
Trinidad, and Leadville, are scattered along the 
eastern rim of the mountains, and such has been the 
growth of agriculture through irrigation and through 
the development of mining on a large scale, that the 
population of the Rock}^ Mountain States has in- 
creased to large proportions. Denver has about 
two hundred thousand people, more than the whole 
state had when it wa^ admitted as a state. 

The city of Indianapolis, like Denver, is a great 
railroad centre, and like Denver, lies almost in the 
middle of a state without important river or water 
advantages. They are the only large cities in America 
that do not lie on or near navigable water. Minne- 
apolis and Kansas City are each about the size of 
Denver, but lie close to great navigable rivers. 



View from Wheeling Hill 

The city of Wheeling, West Virginia, lies in the 
valley of the Ohio River, closeh^ walled in on all 
sides b}^ high hills. The north part of the town 
stretches along a narrow slope, two or three blocks 
wide, between the sloping side of Wheeling Hill and 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 33 

the Ohio River. Farther south the broad bottom or 
terrace at the outlet of Wheeling Creek widens out 
to a somewhat extended flat between the river and 
sides of Champlain Hill, at the base of which flows 
the creek. 

At the north end of Wheeling a wagon road rises 
along the side of Wheeling Hill, till it reaches the 




Fig. 7. 
The Ohio River. 



point where it turns back along the top of the ridge, 
and leads up gradually to a point, about three hun- 
dred feet above the river. 

From the narrow summit of this ridge, a broad 
view of the Ohio Valley in this neighborhood is given. 
Two hundred feet below us are the tops of the high 
buildings of the city of Wheeling, crowded together 
in the narrow space between the river and the hill. 
The yards in the residence district are small, and the 



34 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

(hvelliiig-liouses are built close to the street and near 
together. 

The tall steeples of the churches look small from 
our higli point of view. Where the city sprea'ds out 
to fill the vallej', at the mouth of Wheeling Creek, 
we see a great mass of business blocks and factories. 
Toward the south the great iron mills and breweries 
show the smoky manufacturing part of the city. 
While we are looking one of the great blast-furnaces 
blazes up with a broad red flame, as its cap is removed 
for the charge of fuel or ore. At times the smoke 
from the man}^ tall chimne3^s is spread out through 
the valley, obscuring the view in that direction. 

Five or six miles down the river, on the Ohio side, 
are plainly seen the big chimneys and blast-furnaces 
of Bellaire, adding their contribution of smoke and 
soot to the gloom of the valley. Across the river on 
the Ohio shore, is a whole series of towns in plain 
view. Bellaire with fifteen thousand people at the 
south. West Wheeling, Bridgeport, and Martin's 
Ferry, with two or three smaller villages, stretcli 
along the narrow bench between the river and the 
high-sloping hills. Where a valley stretches back 
westward between the bluffs, the village of Bridgeport 
fills with houses the lo\ver levels and slo]3es. 

Down in its deep trough the yellow waters of the 
Ohio flow in a broad current, which can be seen in 
its winding course some eight or ten miles. A long 
wooded island stretches parallel to the city, to which 
the two creat bridges are seen to lead. This island 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 35 

was originally covered with forests, and has been 
laid out into beautiful streets with fine residences 
fronting on the river. Seven thousand people have 
their homes upon this island. The yards and streets 
lie about sixty feet above low water. But in February 
and March of each year, the river steadily rises with 
the melting snows and rains till it fills the cellars 
and covers the yards, and occasionally rises into the 
lower stories of the houses. People are then com- 
pelled to move about in boats. 

At the north end of this island is the state fair 
ground, with its booths and race-course. While we 
are looking the horses are seen stretching themselves 
in the race, and thousands of people are w^atching the 
runners in the state fair races. 

At the north end of the ridge upon which we are 
standing is the city reservoir, into which the water 
is pumped for the cit3'^'s supply from the Ohio River 
two miles above. 

To our surprise, as we look down on the west side 
of this ridge, away from Wheeling eastward, we see 
a broad, deep valley, which is formed by a great bend 
in Wheeling Creek. If this narrow ridge on which 
we stand were cut away, it would allow the city to 
spread out over a much broader level area. As we 
look up the winding valley of Wheeling Creek, we 
see that all its level parts and lower slopes are covered 
with villages, suburbs of Wheeling. Two electric 
lines besides a railroad are pointed out, whicli wind 
their way along the sides of this valley. In this 



36 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

direction and five or six miles away are several 
delightful suburbs, with lawns, gardens, and large 
yards, away from the soot and smoke of the city. 

From our high lookout it becomes very clear that 
all the little valleys and even sloping hillsides of this 
whole region, on both sides of the river, and the island, 
are needed for houses and towns. The tops of the 
hills are usually not built upon, partly because they 
are so high to reach, and partly because they are mere 
ridges, with little or no level land for yards, farms, 
gardens, etc. 

The railroads are also seen to have a hard time 
making their way through such a rough country. 
Several bridges are in sight, where the railroads cross 
Wheeling Creek in the valley just back of the ridge, 
and the dark mouths of two long tunnels are seen 
where the railroads pass through the high, broad 
ridges, in order to continue their course along the 
Ohio or up the valley of Wheeling Creek. 

At the south end of the peninsula or ridge upon 
which we stand, we look down upon the broader flat 
which lies at the mouth of Wheeling Creek, and 
where the larger part of Wheeling is built. It looks 
as if this flat land were a delta, formed by the creek 
at its junction with the Ohio, spreading out the silt 
and gravel it had brought down from the valley 
above. As the main channel of the Ohio was scoured 
deeper, the creek also cut down through its own delta 
to get to the level of the river. 

At the other or north part of this ridge, where it 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 37 

connects with the hills back from the river, it is 
crossed by the old national road, built in Henry 
Clay's time. This road was well constructed at 
national expense, and its solid road-bed, heavy stone 
bridges, and well-built terrace along the steep hill- 
sides, still show the excellence of this old road mak- 
ing. Just below this ridge the national road crossed 
the river by a ferry to Ohio, and followed the valley 
of the creek westward through Columbus, Ohio, to 
St. Louis, Missouri. Near the point where this road 
crosses the ridge, according to the story, McCullough, 
the famous Indian fighter, when pursued by the 
savages, leaped his horse down the steep slope to 
the creek below and escaped. 

Looking down on the other side, toward the Ohio 
River, we see near at hand the hotel which marks the 
spot where old Fort Henry stood. This is now a 
crowded part of the city, close to the chief market- 
place, and a stone tablet set up at the edge of the 
sidewalk locates the corner of the fort at a high point 
where the street slopes off in three directions. Here 
was done the last fighting of the Revolutionary War. 
The British attacked this fort after the treaty had 
been made, but before the news had reached the Ohio 
Valley. 

It was at this place that George Rogers Clark 
stopped to gain recruits for his little army as he 
descended the Ohio, before making his successful 
expedition against Kaskaskia and Vincennes. There 
are a number of famous incidents connected with 



38 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

Fort Henry in early Indian warfare. Among others 
is that of Elizabeth Zane. 

The two bridges which are seen spanning the river 
below us are high bridges, so that steamboats can 
pass under them. But in high water boats are com- 
pelled sometimes to lower their stacks. A steamboat 
is seen making its way down the river, although the 
water at this season is low. But in the spring and 
early sunuuer time the coal barges are sent down 
the river in great numbers, and thousands of pas- 
sengers journey up and down in the regular trips of 
the steamers. 

The bluffs east of Wheeling are barren and ugly, 
while those on the Ohio side are partly covered with 
groves and fields, and are much more pleasing. 
Sloping up from the river bank, the higher hills rise 
about eight hundred feet above the river, or fourteen 
hundred feet above the sea level. A trip in a steam- 
boat down this part of the Ohio has many fine views 
of wooded hills and slopes, and of green and fruitful 
valleys, through wdiich creeks come down to meet the 
Ohio. 

Wheeling, as seen from one of these hills, is a 
manufacturing city, the whole valley being clouded, 
oftentimes, with the dense smoke from chimneys, all 
along the river on both sides. There are very large 
iron works and machine shops at Wheeling and at 
Bellaire, also glass factories, potteries, breweries, 
foundries, paper-mills, planing-mills, wagon factories, 
and other manufacturing plants. 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 39 

Wheeling has a population of more than forty 
thousand, but the villages and suburbs with which 
it is connected b}^ trolley lines greatly increase its im- 
portance as a market and trade centre. It is the 
largest city of West Virginia, and is well supplied 
with schools and churches. 

For the children of Wheeling the study of this city, 
as thus outlined, is a profitable preparation for the 
chief features of the Ohio River in its entire course 
from Pittsburg to Cairo, and by comparison later 
leads to a comprehension of the Upper Mississippi, 
the Hudson, and other rivers. The iron industries 
and factories at and near Wheeling easily suggest 
the greater iron industries at Pittsburg and all along 
the Upper Ohio. In later studies the children will 
learn that at Chattanooga, Birmingham, and other 
places along the western slopes of the Alleghany 
highlands are found the extensive iron industries 
which are so much like those at Wheeling. At 
Chicago, Cleveland, and Buffalo, also, are large blast 
furnaces and rolling mills. 

The hills and valleys, the river and creeks, about 
Wheeling, are a fine illustration of the deeply dis- 
sected region of the whole western Alleghany pla- 
teau, from northern Mississippi to western New York. 



40 lessons in home geogbaphy 

An Excursion to Coney Island 

From ax Excursion worked up by J. B. Opdyke 

A trip to the seashore by trolley late in Api'il has 
a special geographical value for the children. The 
summer conditions of the beach and water, so arti- 
ficial in a way and so well known to most children, 
are very different from those that prevail in early 
spring. At this time the sea environment at Coney 
Island is in its crude, natural form. The advantages 
offered for the study of geography are too muiierous 
and too valuable to be exhausted by one excursion, 
though a good general view of the whole can be had. 

Upon reaching Coney Island, the beach and the 
water naturally first attract the attention. It seems 
deserted. There is a broad stretch of solitary sand 
and w^ater. The slope of the beach is seen to vary, in 
some places being ver}^ gradual, in others quite steep. 
This is accounted for by the different kinds of soil 
against which the water wears and by the varying 
roughness of the sea. In two places there is almost a 
perpendicular line to the water's edge, owing to the 
fact that the shore is here composed of rock. The 
dangers of a steep shore are pointed out, as are also 
the advantages of a sloping one. The irregular beach 
line is noticed and is explained to be due to the un- 
yielding condition of the shore in places where a rock 
bottom renders w^ashing more difficult. 

The sand is studied as to fineness, color, and use. 
The children are easily able to explain, after they have 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 41 

watched the grinding tendency of tlie restless water 
on the shore, why the sand is so fine. Its color be- 
comes darker as one walks from the water's edge 
inland, and presently grass can be seen sprouting up 
through it. 

Shells of various kinds and shapes are examined 
and as far as possible are explained. Some bits of 
animal life are found clinging to many of them. 
There is much seaweed washed up on the beach. 
This is examined carefully and compared with grass. 
The beach is covered with various peculiar things 
that have been washed up during the storm of 
winter. Some forms of life, such as sand-crabs, an 
occasional dead fish, etc., serve as an additional im- 
petus to the interest. Refuse of all kinds from the 
depths is attractively instructive as it is investigated. 
The varying marks of the sea's winter terror are still 
clearly seen, much damage being still in evidence. 
The receding of the sea line in some places is dis- 
cussed, together with its outward tendency in others. 

The water itself is seen to have a characteristic of 
foaminess. This is attributed to its action and its 
salt content. The waves vary in size, and the reasons 
for this are discussed. The whitecap attracts atten- 
tion, and its cause is seen in the wind. The action of 
the waves, their rate of progress, their cause, and 
their kinds of movement are noticed. The gradual 
advance made by each wave over every other as it 
washes up on the shor« gives rise to the subject of 
the tides. 



42 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

On looking out as far as can be seen a general color 
will be perceived. The color of the water is com- 
pared with that in the rivers about New York and 
also with the drinking water. 

The whole appearance is one of great roughness, 
due partly to the season of the year and also to the 
natural conditions off Sandy Hook, This is explained 
by the pupils. The uniting of the bay with the ocean 
at this point, and the peculiarly shaped peninsula of 
Sandy Hook are the leading agents. Vessels can be 
seen plying over this rough passageway, which is the 
door opening on their way to Europe or to places 
along the coast. They appear to be standing still, 
but on watching closely we can see that they pass 
out of sight. The horizon is then noted with partic- 
ular interest, seeming to extend down into the w^ater. 
The distance of the vessels from the beach is approx- 
imated by means of ascertaining from pocket maps 
the distance of Sandy Hook from Coney Island. 
Surprising results are got at in this way. The Hook 
has the appearance of being quite near, but the dis- 
tance, when actually known, is unbelievable to the 
children. What is the reason for tliis deception ? Is 
the same thing true on land ? What is the shape of 
Sandy Hook ? Illustrate it by a little sketch on the 
damp sand. Compare that sketch with your pocket 
map. Explain the cause of its formation. 

The outline of the beach from the extreme right to 
the extreme left is very irregular. By going part way 
out on the pier this can be seen to good advantage. 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 43 

On the extreme left, far in the distance, the villages 
of Canarsie and Bergen Beach can be seen. They 
seem to stand out in the sea, but the shore outline 
curves around from these places almost semicircu- 
larly until it is nearly in a line with the Coney Island 
shore. Manhattan Beach stands out clearly, v^ith its 
two great hotels. It seems to stand out farther than 
the general shore line. Then the line again seems to 
recede until Brighton is reached, which place seems 
also to extend out into the ocean. The same shore 
characteristic is noticeable between Brighton and 
Coney Island, from which the children deduct that 
the resorts are built out over the water. 

Draw in the sand the general outline of the beach 
as far as it has been observed, and insert these places. 
Compare the outlines with the pocket maps. Then 
compare this outline with the outline of Sandy Hook 
across the way. 

Why is this place called an island ? Make an out- 
line of the island. How is it separated from Long 
Island proper ? Approximate the dimensions of the 
island. 

On inspecting the town itself, it is seen to be in a 
somewhat ravaged condition. The winter storms have 
washed the board walk away in some places. Many 
of the smaller buildings have been inundated by the 
water and have had their foundations washed out and 
are twisted from their positions. Its plan is fairly 
regular. Its population is found to be about two thou- 
sand at this season of the year. It fluctuates in the 



44 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

summer to the number of many tliousands. Judging 
from the character of the buildings the people seem 
to be given over entirel}^ to the catch-penny business. 
There are shops of all kinds, theatres galore, and 
various novelties. None of these are in operation at 
this season of the year, of course, but they are under- 
going extensive repairs preparatory for the coming 
season. Many new buildings are being erected, all of 
wliich are built without cellars because of the impos- 
sibility of keeping the water out. Other buildings 
under erection are amusement houses, such as switch- 
backs, bathing houses, and so on. There are no large 
liotels because it is a daily resort. People come 
to the island on day excursions. Very few come to 
this part to spend a longer time. The tliree main 
resorts on the island are Manhattan, Brighton, and 
Coney Island. Manhattan has two colossal hotels, 
Brighton one, for the accommodation of guests for 
the season ; and many differences are noted between 
these resorts and Coney Island or East Brighton 
proper. 

The main streets are noticed to be parallel with 
the seashore. There is a gradual curve in the shore 
along this part of the island, and the streets are also 
curved. The pier is undergoing repairs, the piles, 
many of them, having been washed out of place. 
The whole atmosphere is astir with extensive prepa- 
rations for the summer season. The predominance 
of saloons is inevitably noticeable. 

The terminals of a great number of car lines are 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 45 

noticed. Why are there so many of them ? Why is 
this the largest place on the island ? What is the 
chief attraction of the place ? 

As the car leaves the island to return to the city 
a bird's-eye view of the whole island can be had to 
better advantage perhaps than from any other place. 
Peninsulas and inlets are noted and discussed, as are 
also the lowlands just outside of the resort proper. 
The tall sea-grass furnishes a topic for consideration. 
Its differences from other grass are taken account of. 
The railroads are seen to b,e embanked higher than 
the level, showing the instability of the sea-sand soil 
for good foundation. In the rear of all the resorts 
the thoroughfares are netted with trolley wires, tele- 
graph wires, etc. The little inlet or creek which 
separates Coney Island from the mainland is crossed. 
It is deep and furnishes good fishing. Advertising 
boards along the trolley line attract attention, and 
some little idea of the great business of advertising 
is to be had. The waning of the fresh salt air is 
soon noticed after the passing of the inlet, and the 
ordinary, mixed city-and-sea air is inhaled again. 

Such an excursion does not begin or end, of course, 
with just the point in view. From the time the chil- 
dren are seated in the car until they leave it, there 
are constantly occurring topics of geographical inter- 
est and discussion. The farms, the fields, the sub- 
urban houses, the different localities of the city, tlie 
parks, the public buildings passed, etc., are all sub- 
jects which they will bring up, inquire about, and 



46 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

discuss. The teacher needs to be an inexhaustible 
ciuestioner from the beginning of the excursion to 
the end. It is very seldom that lie himself will have 
to do any answering. What one of the bright city 
children does not know, another does and is able to 
explain. The teacher's business is to guide the ques- 
tions, to contribute the general points of information, 
and most of all to suggest. 

The Creek and Pond 

A local creek may furnish occasion for more than 
one good excursion. The Kishw^aukee at De Kalb 
is an example. 

The winding course of the creek, fringed in places 
with groves of natural woods, the general direction 
of the valley, with the slopes on the sides, and the 
tributary brooks, can be traced by observation. The 
floods of the Kishwaukee in March, w^hich are caused 
by the melting snow and rain, break up the ice which 
has formed during the winter months and send it 
down the stream in floating masses. Tiiis mass of 
ice sometimes collects above the foot-bridge, and even 
threatens to sweep away tlie heavy piles upon which 
it is built. The water is from five to eight feet deep 
and from sixt}^ to one hundred feet wide. During 
the several days of the spring freshet, and for several 
weeks, in fact, a very large quantity of water passes 
down this valley. Without the river to drain off this 
excess of water the fields would remain flooded for 
long periods. 




s ■^ 



LOCAL SCENERY AND VIEWS 47 

At the same time the small tributary stream or 
brook which passes through the campus grounds 
overflows its banks, and spreads out ov^er the low 
part of the campus almost like a river, making ap- 
proach from that direction to the school impossible. 
It collects much sediment from the corn-fields and 
other fields which it drains, and when the flood is 
passed the mud is fovmd covering the sidewalks and 
slopes. On tlie other side of the creek, toward the 
town, small runs and sewers empty into the creek, 
which in this way provides drainage for the town. 

During the dry smnmer and autumn months there 
is in some years but little running water. Locate 
the sources of the creek in the swampy prairies some 
miles south of De Kalb. Here the channel has been 
deepened and straightened by artificial ditching, thus 
draining the rich prairie swamps and converting them 
into rich, productive fields. 

Trace the course of this small river northward 
until it unites with other creeks, passes bj^ the city 
of Belvidere, and joins the Rock River. On the map 
of Illinois follow the course of the Rock River until 
it joins the Mississippi, then on the map of the 
United States trace the Mississippi until it reaches 
the Gulf of Mexico. 

On the low ground close by the creek is a pond. 

Observe the pond on the campus and the slopes 
from which the water is collected. At other places 
upon the prairie, low, swampy ponds have been seen 
by the children. Call to mind the rank grasses and 



48 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

cattails which are found growing in these ponds. 
Where they have been drained out, the effects upon 
the rich soil can be seen. At several points along 
the Kishv^'aukee are partial dams, causing the water 
to collect above. At points wliere small creeks 
enter can be seen the fan of dirt which has been 
washed down by the triVjutary brook. Notice the 
effect of w^ashing and rolling upon the pebbles and 
stones in the bed of the creek. 

The Valley and Rock Strata at Faribault, 
Minnesota 

A trip across the bridge at Faribault to the sand- 
stone ledges on the east side of the valley is always 
interesting. 

The valley is a quarter of a mile wide, with broad 
bottoms covered partly wdth trees, but flooded with 
spring freshets. The river winds its course through 
this valley and shows gravel and sand banks and the 
river wash to good advantage. On the farther side 
are seen the yellow sand cliffs and ledges, rising 
twenty and thirty feet in height. The rock crumbles 
readily, and it is easy to scrape holes into it. In this 
way little caves have been dug into the side of the 
hills, and the loose fragments and sand collect 
at the bottom of the ledge. The little children 
like to collect this pretty yellow sand and cany it 
home in pails to use in playhouses. 

The hill slopes upward from the lower ledges and 



LOCAL SCENERY ANB VIEWS 49 

is covered with forest growth. On the ledges tlie 
trees send their roots into the cracks and crevices and 
seem to find nourisliment even in these barren places. 

Just north of the blind asjdiim is a gorge some 
eighty feet in depth, which has been cut down by 
a brook which enters the main valley at this point. 
On the upper sides are the yellow sand ledges, which 
it is somewhat difficult to reach by climbing. Into 
the side of this sandstone stratum has been dug a 
passage, opening into a large cave shaped like a cistern, 
in which half a dozen persons may find refuge from a 
storm. 

In the bottom of the narrow valley the little brook 
has cut a channel into the harder rock six or eight 
feet deep and from seven to ten feet wide. The 
action of the water in scouring out this little caiion 
can be easil}" traced, although it is dry in summer 
time. The melting snows of spring and the rain 
floods send a torrent down this valley, which carries 
much sand, dirt, and gravel to the point where it joins 
the small river below. The outlet of this valle}" is 
blocked hj a solid earth causeway about thirty feet 
high, over which a road passes to the level plain 
above. The brook escapes through a long stone 
archway which forms a tunnel under this embank- 
ment. It is a good illustration of the labor and 
expense of road building and tunnelling in a hilly 
countr}^ 

The valley sides show considerable variet}* of loam, 
clay, sandstone rocks, gravel pits, and hard shales. 



50 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGBAPHY 

The vegetation of wild flowers, bushes, trees, and 
vines corresponds to the conditions of soil at various 
points. 

The place where the brook meets the river exhibits 
a collection of large gravel and big stones which show 
the power of this little stream. 

Farther up the little valley is a thicket of trees and 
bushes. 

The visit to this little valley in spring or fall is 
easily made from the schools of the town. 

VISIT TO A CITY PARK 

1. Trees and grounds, shrubbery. 

2. Lakes and streams. 

3. Wild animals ; zoological garden. 

4. Lawns and playgrounds. 

5. Irregular surface, rocks, streams, etc. 

6. Value of parks. 

7. Monuments and statues. 

8. The city parks and their management. 

9. Expense to the city ; taxes ; park officers. 



CHAPTER II 
excursions to shops and factories 

Excursions to observe House Building 

In the spring or fall, near the school, some house 
just building may be found. The whole process, 
from the digging of the cellar and laying of cellar 
walls to the final painting of the house and seeding 
of the lawn, can be easily observed. 

We have often taken a class of children for an 
hour's excursion to such a place. The children are 
naturally interested in seeing the building materials, 
the tools, and workmen. As the dirt is thrown out 
for the cellar and ditch for drainage and sewer con- 
nections, we may notice the diiferent layers of soil, 
clay, sand, and sometimes stone. The digging of the 
cistern shows this still better. 

The brick, stone, and mortar of the basement walls 
and the tools and skill of the masons are inspected. 

When the foundation is complete or while the 
masons are at work upon it, notice the form and 
dimensions of the basement, the partition walls, the 
thickness and strength of walls, and the cellar win- 
dows and door-frames. On the return from the first 
excursion have a description of the materials and 

51 



52 LESSONS IN homf: geography 

work seen and the tools used. Draw also the ground 
plan of the basement, using the foot or 3^ard as a 
standard of measurement. The sources from which 
the materials are brought, as the brick-yard, the lime- 
pit, the sand-bank, and the carpenter shop, are worthy 
of special mention, showing, even in the case of the 
basement, from how" many different places the ma- 
terials are gathered. 

A second trip may be made when the wooden 
framework of the building is toward completion, or 
if it is a brick or stone building, when it is being 
roofed. The posts, joists, beams, studding, and rafters 
may be seen, and how they are mortised or nailed 
together and rested upon the foundation. (If the 
teacher does not know the names of these timbers, 
ask the contractor or workmen. It is not necessary 
to disturb the workmen, and they are quite willing 
to answer questions.) Notice the joists of the second 
story and how they are supported, -also the rafters 
for the roof, and how they are fastened to the ridge 
and walls. The manner of setting in various doors 
and frames may be seen. 

At this time one may also best observe the loca- 
tion of brick chimneys and ventilation pipes, the 
pipes also for plumbing or for gas, and the weiring for 
electric lights or door-bells. The possible dangers 
from bad flues, poor plumbing, or electric wires may 
be mentioned and the means for preventing these 
clearly seen. This brings us close to the special 
difficulties and particular skill rec[uired from different 



EXCURSIOJS^S TO SHOPS AXD FACTORIES 53 

classes of workmen. It is interesting also to notice 
the dependence of the different workmen upon each 
other, for example, the masons, carpenters, and 
plmnbers. The division of labor is very noticeable. 

A third trip may be made to observe the lathing, 
plastering, and flooring. The slaking of lime and 
mixing with hair in preparing the plaster are instruc- 
tive. The roofing, tinning, and exterior painting 
bring in still other classes of materials and workmen, 
and the sources from which they come. The differ- 
ent shops and factories in the town that supply 
materials should be noticed. Sometimes much of 
the work is done in these shops, and is brought ready 
prepared to the house, as with the tinners, the 
plumbers, the painters, and the planing-mill men. 

Still a fourth trip may be made to observe the 
interior finish and decoration. This also requires 
expert workmen, from the varnisher and painter to 
the frescoer and decorator. Tlie fine woods used, the 
hardware for locks and hinges, the mouldings and 
paper-hangings, the finishing of hard-wood floors, 
the cupboards, drawers, and panelling, the wash-basins 
and bath-tub, the radiators and heating apparatus, 
furnish most important object-lessons in direct 
relation to the uses of life. 

The materials and tools and skilled workmen in 
all the different processes of house building are de- 
serving of careful observation and later illuminating 
discussion in the schoolroom. Even the hours of 
labor and wages of the workmen, their expert skill, 



54 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

their dependence upon one another, and their impor- 
tance to all of us should be definitely brought out. 
These are fundamental things in the private life of 
every human being and in the lai-ger public interests 
of every community. 

The different trades involved in l^uilding, as those of 
masons, carpenters, tinners, plumbers, painters, mill- 
men, contractors, and arcliitects, may be thus appre- 
ciated, each in his specialty. We may not, indeed, 
with younger children, go into the matter of strikes 
and labor unions, but we are laying a good foun- 
dation for understanding these things a little later. 
House building is a natural, familiar centre from 
which we can move out to a large number of the 
common occupations of men in every community. 
It will be desirable later to make excursions to these 
places, as to the brick-yarcl, the sawmill, and planing- 
mill, the carpenter shop, the stone quarry, and the 
hardware store. 

All of these, however, i^oint outward into the great 
world beyond from whence these building materials 
come, to the forests, iron mines, cjuarries, and fac- 
tories, many miles it may be from our home. 

Each excursion needs to be worked over in the 
schoolroom with such descriptions and drawings as 
to bring out the power to express clearly the mean- 
ing of the facts observed. 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 55 

ExcuEsiox TO A Blacksmith Shop 

Before taking children to a blacksmith shop it is 
well for the teacher, as in most excursions, to visit 
the shop and study its work. 

The children enjoy seeing the blacksmith working 
at the forge or hammering the red-hot iron upon the 
anvil. The use of the bellows for increasing the draft 
and heating the iron arouses their interest. The kind, 
of coal used and where it is obtained should be known. 
It comes in lumps, but breaks up very fine at the 
touch of the hammer. 

When a horse is brought into the shop to be shod, 
a pair of shoes of the right size is selected, according 
to the size of the horse's foot. The blacksmith does 
not make the shoes and shoe nails as formerly, but 
they are sent him from the large factory. Yet the 
iron shoes that come from the factory have no toes 
or heels, so necessary in holding the foot firmh'^ on 
icy or slippery ground. The children see the black- 
smith heat the horseshoe to a bright heat, then, on 
the anvil, turn down and sharpen the heel points 
and weld on the toe point. After that the shoe 
is cooled. The blacksmith takes the horse's foot 
between his knees and trims the hoof. By question- 
ing the smith w^e find that the hoof grows constantly, 
and the whole is renewed once a j^ear. The old hoof 
needs to be trimmed with a knife, and the new shoe 
is fastened on firmly by wrought-iron nails, which are 
driven through the edge of the hoof and clinched on 



56 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

the outside. About once in six weelvs or two months 
the shoes need to be talven oi'f, shar^jened, and fitted on 
again. The advantage to tlic horses is the avoidance 
of tender feet, greater hrnmess upon tlie ground in 
walking, running, and hauling, and in winter time 
especially the avoidance of slipping and falling, and 
perhaps breaking the legs. 

The cost of shoeing a horse on all four feet with 
new shoes may be $1.50. For resetting old shoes, 
one-half this. But the value to the farmer or teamster 
of having his horses well shod is much greater than 
this. The Ijlacksmith is thus seen to be a very im- 
portant w^orkman for the farmer, the drayman, the 
liveryman, and for any one using horses. 

The tools used by the blacksmith are worthy of 
some special examination. The long tongs for han- 
dling hot iron, the anvil and hammers and wedges, the 
knives for trimming the hoofs, the peculiar working 
of the liellows, the pincers for drawing nails, and the 
files, — each has its peculiar use and fitness. Then 
the skill and ease with which the workman performs 
his work should be realized to some extent by the 
children. 

The sources from which the blacksmith gets his 
tools, horseshoes, nails, anvils, and forge wdll also 
show his dependence upon others in the simple system 
of economies. 

Quite a number of the things seen at the black- 
smith's are suitable objects for the children to draw, 
as the forge, anvil, tools, and even the blacksmith 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 57 

shoeing a horse. It is not uncommon to find the 
children making an interesting group of drawings on 
paper or on the blaclvboard as tlie result of such a 
visit to the shop. 

In this shop also the iron parts of wagons and 
buggies are often repaired, the tires of wheels are set 
and tightened, and springs are fixed. Oftentimes a 
blacksmith's shop and a wagon sliop are combined, 
as the wagon maker and blacksmith are necessary to 
each other in the construction or repair of a wagon. 
The tools and machines necessary for this kind of 
work form an additional study of interest and value. 

The Planing-mill at Ithaca, New York 

Near the business centre of the town is a mill and 
lumber-yard where the contracts are made for supply- 
ing the rough and finished lumber (mill-work, etc.) 
for frame buildings. It is just such a mill as one 
finds in any of our larger and smaller towns, and is 
designed to supply contractors and builders with the 
materials for their constructions. 

On the first floor of this shop we saw piles of 
unplaned lumber close by a group of three machines, 
the first of which is called a surfacer. The man 
shoves the board between the rollers and it is gripped 
by the machine, which passes it through, planing off to 
a smooth surface the top side of the board. The 
next adjacent machine receives a board in the same 
way and planes both sides and the two edges, in once 



58 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

passing it through. It is called a matclier, because 
it is used also to cut the tongue and groove on the 
edges, so as to cause them to match as in the case of 
good tight flooring. 

The third machine receives an inch board already 
planed on the sides and edges, and setting it on edge, 
presses it against th-e teeth of a large circular saw, 
three feet in diameter, which slices it into two thin 
half-inch boards. This is called a re-saw. All these 
boards are now finished and ready for use. 

On the same floor is a rip-saw, which is a small 
circular saw, whose edge whirls an inch and a half 
above the surface of a bench, and rips off the edges of 
the boards to give them a uniform size. 

Passing up the stairs to the second floor, two lathes 
are first seen, for turning out round posts and other 
circular forms. Near by is a scroll-saw, working ver- 
tically and used to saw out ornamental and bracket 
work. Several machines also which are called knives, 
for cutting out mouldings, the parts of doors, window 
casings, etc., which need to be mortised together, ai'e 
seen. It is also observed that two heavy oak boards 
are glued and tightly pressed together in a frame or 
press supplied with strong clamps. When dry the 
boards are run through a planing-machine, which 
gives theni a smooth, almost polished, surface. They 
are to serve as the top of a long oak table. These 
presses and clamps are used also in putting together 
the panels and sides of doors which are manufactured 
here. 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 59 

On the third floor we see the finishing work upon 
fine oak casings and cupboards and also tlie glazing of 
windows. 

Passing into the basement, we enter the warm 
engine room, where the large wheel of the engine 
is seen, carrying the great belt that connects with the 
main shaft, running through the shop and giving 
power to all the machines. The furnace room is also 
visited, and w^e observe the engineer shovelling the 
pulverized anthracite coal into the fire. Close by is 
also a bin, into which the shavings and sawdust and 
waste pieces of board, edges, etc., are constantly 
tumbling. While studying the machines on the first 
and second floor we noticed, covering each machine, 
w^as a large tin or zinc hood with a pipe rising from 
it. All these pipes meet in one larger one near the 
ceiling, and in this is a large whirling fan (or wheel) 
which sucks the air so swiftly through these pipes 
that all the sawdust and shavings are carried away 
from the machine as fast as made and driven into 
the bin, where they are fed into the furnace. The 
engineer tells us that half of the fuel needed for run- 
ning the furnace is supplied from the sawdust and 
other waste of the mill. 

Back of the rooms for the machines are large 
storage rooms for finished lumber, mouldings, posts, 
and fine material already worked over in the planing- 
mill. There are also large sheds in which the sorted 
lumber has been stored. There is also a stock of 
lime and brick which are handled by this company. 



60 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

The engine which runs all the machinery of the 
mill is of seventj-five horse-power, and the engineer 
looks after the furnace, engine, and belting and general 
machinery of the mill. Occasionally a large belt 
slips off, and all the work stops half an hour or more 
till it can be put on again. Sometimes a machine 
breaks or needs repair and is thrown out of gear till 
fixed. It is necessary to keep all the different parts 
of the machinery working together and in harmony if 
the w^ork is to go on smoothly and continuously. 

About sixteen men are employed as workmen in 
this mill. In each of the three rooms there is a fore- 
man who looks after the men and machines in that 
room. A good foreman will see that the machines, 
belts, etc., are kept in good working condition, and 
that the workmen do their work well, with little 
waste of material, for an awkward workman may 
easily waste a great quantity of fine lumber. The 
foreman receives better wages, of course, than the 
helpers. The men, however, are not required to 
serve a long and difficult apprenticeship to this work, 
as in the more skilled trades. 

In supplying finishing materials for houses, such as 
doors, casings, window-frames, stairs, sideboards, etc., 
this company is accustomed to buy ready-made at 
large factories stock doors, frames, etc., which are of 
ordinary conventional sizes and material. Large 
companies which manufacture thousands of doors of 
a single size and material can produce them much 
cheaper than a small mill turning out only a few. 



I 



EXCUBSIO^^S TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 61 

This mill, therefore, is accustomed to make only those 
doors and frames which are peculiar or unusual in 
size or shape, material, etc., that is, special orders. 
For these, of course, it can charge a higher price. 

In selling its goods this mill company must com- 
pete with other mill companies in Ithaca and in the 
neighboring towns. Contractors and builders usually 
allow two or more mills to bid on the lumber and 
materials needed to complete a house. The lowest 
bidder, if a responsible mill company, is apt to get the 
contract. This mill company supplies builders with 
materials, not only in Ithaca, but in the surrounding 
countiy as far as thirty miles, shipping the prepared 
material by rail or occasionalh^ by boat, or sending 
it by wagon to near places. About half of the sales 
of this company are made outside of Ithaca. 

The sources from which the mill draws its lumber 
are various. First of all the company owns several 
stretches of woodland within a radius of ten or twelve 
miles near Newfield and other places. It has also a 
portable sawmill which it transports to one of these 
woodlands, where the available trees, spruce, basswood, 
and oak, are cut down, sawed into boards, and shipped 
to the mill at Ithaca. Much of the fine lumber used 
at this mill comes from Buffalo, and is shipped by 
rail or occasionally by canal-boat along the Erie Canal 
and its branch to Lake Cayuga. Some of the pine 
lumber comes from Canada, some from the lake 
regions. Yellow pine comes from Norfolk, Virginia, 
and from the region north of New Orleans, and is sent 



62 LESSONS m HOME GEOGRAPHY 

by rail. Oak, walnut, and other liard woods come 
from Nashville, Tennessee, also from Indiana and the 
Ohio Valley. Cedar and redwood are shipped from 
Washington state by rail to D ninth, thence by boat 
to Buffalo, and then by rail or canal to Ithaca. Al- 
most all kinds of hard woods and pines, hemlock, etc., 
are used in this mill. 

The amount of capital required to run sucli a mill 
is perhaps $50,000. 

A small mill like this is probably a l^etter object- 
lesson for children's study than a larger mill. All the 
essential facts are observed in a simple form. Tliere 
is little danger in visiting this place, and the whole 
connection of parts can be worked out. 

In studjnng the different machines and parts of the 
mill, it is desired that not only the action of the par- 
ticular machine, but its relation to the mill as a whole, 
be seen, and in reviewing the mill as a whole, the 
parts, machines, rooms, and processes be brought into 
a connected whole, so far as it admits of this. 

It is well to look upon the whole establishment 
from the standpoint of the ow^ner, — the means used 
to secure effectiveness and economy, and all the plans 
and devices for working out a profit. The interests, 
w^ages, and skill of the workmen should be looked 
into. This is one of the best forms of real social 
study. 

It is not difficult to show that such a business has 
important relations to the whole life and activity of 
the people, to the need for well-constructed homes, 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 



63 



stores, school houses, etc., in the town and region 
about, and to the great industries, as lumbering, fac- 
tories, and commerce, in many parts of the country. 
The mill business is one which must repeat itself, in 
essentially the same forms, in every town and city, 
and in the lumber-producing regions all over the 
nation, in fact in all the countries in the world. 

The Cypress Sawmill at Palatka, Florida 

A large sawmill for the production of cypress 
lumber is located on the St. Johns River at Palatka, 






Fig. 9. 
a sawmill. 

Florida. The logs are supplied to this mill from the 
cypress swamps which line the banks of the St. Johns 
and its tributaries. A large quantity of these logs may 
be seen floating in the water of the river at the foot 
of the mill. From the water's edge, slanting upward 



64 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

to the main floor of tlie mill, is a narrow track with 
an endless chain. This endless chain is supplied with 
hooks which grip the end of the log as it is pushed 
upon the lower end of the track. One after another 
the logs are carried by this endless chain up the slide 
into the mill. Having passed into the mill, the logs 
are rolled down on either side and collected before 
two log carriages. 

Suddenly a huge iron arm from below rises and 
seizes the nearest log, and lifts it on to the carriage, 
where it is tightly gripped by iron clasps and held 
firmly in position. Three men standing upon this car- 
riage work the iron levers by which the log is handled. 
This carriage stands upon a track and carries the 
log and the men back and forth, forcing it against 
the teeth of a great band-saw which, every three or 
four seconds, slices off a huge board from the log. 
By means of the levers, the men are able to whirl the 
log instantly into any position, so that the saw will 
slice off a board of any desired thickness from any 
one of the four sides of the timber. As these boards 
are sawed off they are carried by rollers farther into 
the mill. Men stand ready to receive them and pass 
them up against small circular saws, called edgers, 
which trim off their rough edges and bring them into 
uniform shape. 

Still farther on the rough or useless ends are taken 
off by other saws, and the boards are distributed ac- 
cording to their size and quality to trucks standing 
upon tramways. When one of these trucks is well 



EXCURSIOXS TO SHOPS AXB FACTORIES 65 

loaded with boards of unifomi quality, it is hauled 
by a mule out over the track which is built upon a 
high trestle to some distant part of the lumber 
yards, Most of these piles of lumber are built 
upon piers stretching far out into the river, with water 
channels between into which the boats may come 
for loading. 

At every point in the process just described, men 
are rec{uired to give direction to the logs or lumber. 
At the foot of the slide and chain which carry the 
logs into the mill are two men with long poles who 
guide the logs through the water till one end is 
lifted b}' the chain on to the slide. As the logs enter 
the mill, men stand ready with cant-hooks to tumble 
them into position. The heavy work is done by the 
machinery, which, however, is directed by men at 
each point. 

But a large portion of the logs, or parts of logs, is 
not fit to make into such boards, and as it passes 
from saw to saw the blocks and parts of boards 
suitable for shingles and laths are picked out and 
sawed into the sizes recjuired for the shingle and lath 
machines, which are busily at work near by. In this 
way a much greater economy of material is secured. 
There are, however, many edges and short board ends 
and rotten pieces which are not good for any of these 
purposes, and are sent either to the furnace room or 
to the waste pile, where a number of one-horse carts 
are being loaded at twenty-five cents a load, and the 
material sold throughout the town for fuel. 



66 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

A large part of tlie sawdust which is constantly 
produced at the various machines is carried on end- 
less belts, supplied with pockets, to the furnace room, 
where it supplies the fuel for running the furnaces 
and the engines. A large portion, also, of the board 
ends and edges are collected and used in the furnace 
room. But so great is the amount of waste material, 
more than is needed in the furnace rooms, that a con- 
siderable part of the waste stuff is carried to a large 
cremator, where a fire is kept burning constantly to 
consume it. This cremator looks like a large, sheet-iron 
chimney, a hundred and twelve feet high and twenty- 
eight feet in diameter. Another part of the waste 
bark and sawdust has been used to build up the yards 
and piers, extending far out into the river, upon which 
the lumber is piled. 

On two sides of the saw^mill are two large engine- 
houses with their furnace rooms, one of which runs 
the machinery of the sawmill and the other that of 
the planing-mill which stands close by. Near the 
planing-mill is the dry kiln, where the lumber is 
brought from the yards and thoroughly dried by a 
process of steam heating. The logs which are sawed 
up in the sawmill, having lain long in the river, are 
thoroughly water-soaked, and the boards as they come 
from the mill are dripping wet. Those which are to 
go through the planing-mill must first be thoroughly 
dried and seasoned. In the planing-mill, not only are 
the boards planed on one or both sides, but all kinds 
of moulding, matched lumber, panels, and finishing 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTOEIES 67 

material are worked out. Many men and machines 
are employed in working up the rough boards and 
timbers into finer products in the planing-mill. 

In a large lumber mill like this a great deal of 
machinery is used, and to provide for repairs and 
constant changes, and installing of machinery, a 
regular machine-shop has been built near the engine- 
house, where four skilled machinists and an expert 
overseer are constantly employed. This shop is fully 
equipped with the best machines for working in 
metal. Near by is also a blacksmith shop for work- 
ing in metal, where a great many of the simpler 
repairs are made. Upon the third floor of the mill 
is also a large saw room where the different saws, 
scores of them in number, are constantly repaired 
and sharpened by experts. 

Of course much pains must be taken in a large 
mill to prevent fires. Besides forbidding the men 
to smoke on the premises, and requiring from them 
great care and watchfulness, guards are appointed 
and other provisions made. City water-mains run 
through the grounds of the mill, and the power of 
the city w^aterworks can be turned at any moment 
to the uses of the mill. In addition to this the com- 
pany has a large fire-engine and a full equipment of 
hose, and is able to run the engine out upon the docks 
should fire be threatened. Patent fire extinguishers 
are also hung in many places about the mill for use 
in emergencies. In addition to this the mill and 
lumber-yards are kept well insured against fii'e. 



68 



LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 



In order to secure the mill a constant supply of logs, 
the mill company has bought up thousands of acres of 
swamp lands (about one hundred and eighty thousand 
acres in all) along the St. Johns, the Oklawaha, and 




Fig. 10. 
Sawmill " hands." 



Other branches of the St. Johns, where it establishes 
logging-camps for the felling of trees and collection of 
the logs. At one of these camps the comjiany has 
sixty men regularly employed. Logging in these 
swamps is carried on in a somewhat peculiar way. 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 69 

The log-puller, consisting of a steam-engine and chain 
for dragging the logs from the woods to the edge of 
the river, is much in use. Such a log-puller will 
drag a big log a mile through the swamps, crushing 
and uprooting the smaller trees in its course and 
making a track which opens a wide vista through 
the woods. 

In order to bring logs from a greater distance from 
the river a railroad is sometimes built into the swamp 
for a distance of five or six miles, and the log-pullers 
are employed in dragging the logs to the line of this 
track, where they are loaded on cars and hauled by a 
steam-engine to the brink of the river. This com- 
pany has two railroad logging-camps. Logging in 
the cypress swamps is dangerous because of the acci- 
dents from the log-pullers which occur at times, and 
because of the dampness, and of fevers which are 
common in the swamps. Negroes are much em- 
ployed in the logging-camps because they are well 
adapted to the w^ork in the swamps. These fevers 
are especially apt to attack those not accustomed to 
this kind of life. 

At the brink of the river, log rafts are formed 
which are towed down the river by a steamer owned 
by the mill company to the big mills at Palatka. 
The company has a number of these logging-camps 
at work most of the time so as to have always on 
hand an abundant supply of logs for the mill. The 
work of the mill is carried on both winter and sum- 
mer, and on account of the mildness of the climate 



70 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

of this section, the winter months are the best season 
for work. 

The kimber produced by this mill is mostly shipped 
to the North, that is, to New York, Philadelphia, and 
other cities. The large lumber firms in these cities 
send schooners to Florida to get the lumber and 
deliver it at the Northern wharves. These three- 
masted schooners are sailing vessels which can offer 
much cheaper transportation than the railroads. The 
mill company at Palatka delivers the lumber to the 
schooners, whicli come directly to its piers, and has 
no further responsibility for it. 

Just across the street from the sawmill is a large 
planing-mill, which makes sashes and doors for ship- 
ment to the Northern markets. A good share of the 
lumber used by this planing-mill is sold to them by 
the sawmill company. Besides the shipment of lum- 
ber by water two raib'oad tracks run into the ysLrd, 
and cars are here loaded for the Southern market. 

A large number of workmen is employed about the 
mills, in all about one hundred and fifty. The skilled 
engineers, saw filers, and machinists receive, of course, 
considerably higher wages than the ordinary work- 
men. The men work efficiently in the handling of 
the machines and lumber, and it is an excellent train- 
ing in prompt and systematic work. The mill also 
employs one hundred and fifty men at its logging- 
camps, and thus furnishes work and support to a 
large number of families. 

Jt is noticed that cottages are being built in the 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 71 

neighborhood of the mill for the accommodation of 
the working families, while the owners and overseers 
occupy houses in various parts of the town. The 
presence of these families makes better trade for all 
the stores and shops of the town, as well as for the 
banks and for business people of all kinds. 

The unskilled laborer receives $1.10 per day of ten 
hours. Some of the laborers have saved up money 
and have paid for their homes. When, because of 
repairs or for other reasons, the mills shut down for 
a few days, the shops and stores in town at once feel 
the loss of customers and desire to see the mills 
going again. 

The property of the mill company is taxed for the 
support of public schools and for other city needs, 
thus largely increasing the amount of money that can 
be used for these purposes. This large mill company 
is therefore an important factor in the general pros- 
perity of the town. 

The study of a sawmill in its work and in its 
various relations to the town, to the logging-camps, 
and to the markets, is one of the best topics for chil- 
dren, because the product is bulky, and because the 
method of handling it, as w^ell as the machines and 
processes employed, can be easily observed and under- 
stood by them. 

Excursions to such a sawmill can be made in a 
great many parts of the country, because the lumber 
production is widely distributed through many of the 
states ; for example, all along the Mississippi and many 



72 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

of its tributaries, in the Eastern States and Alleghany 
Mountains, in the Gulf States, in the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and on the Pacific Slope. It involves tlie 
production of raw material, also manufacturing, ma- 
chinery, and commerce by land and w^ater, and it is 
not difficult to understand the causal necessities that 
control the business. 

The Warwick Pottery at Wheeling 

This pottery stands near the river bank and the 
tracks of the railroads, where cars pass by and either 
bring the clay needed or afterwards carry away the 
manufactured chinaware. The product of this mill is 
known in the market as semi-porcelain, or porcelain 
granite. 

Close by the bins where the different equalities of 
clay are stored stand the freight cars from which the 
white powdered clay and ground stone are shovelled 
into the bins. There are eight of these bins, contain- 
ing different kinds of clay or kaolin, and powdered or 
ground stone. 

The best white, almost waxy, kaolin comes from 
England. A yellowish powder comes from the kaolin 
beds of Florida. Another white sort comes from 
Germany. The ground flint and spar come from 
Vermont and Maryland. A blackish lumpy clay, 
called ball-clay, comes from England. It is tough 
and gluey, and gives the mixture of these various 
clays a sticky, coherent value in moulding and work- 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 



73 



ing. The ground stone is fusible and melts in the 
heat, binding the parts together. 

A small truck runs on a track in front of these 
bins, and is loaded in turn with a charge of clay from 
each bin. These charges are all shovelled into the 
hopper-like top of the agitator, a large tank which 
receives these clays and thoroughly churns them in 
water admitted through a pipe. When these clays 




Fig. 11. 
The largest pottery in the United States, East Liverpool, Ohio. 

and water have been completely mixed, a faucet is 
turned, and the slip, or clayey w^ater, is poured over a 
sieve which removes any large particles, and the pure 
slip is poured into a press machine, supplied with 
vertical layers of rough cloths, through which the slip 
runs, leaving the clay, which forms in broad slabs of 
clay, the water having been squeezed out. These 
slabs of clay are taken out and piled in a heap on the 
floor. This clay is then fed into the pug-machine. 



74 



LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 



sometliing like an iminense sausage grinder, which 
grinds and squeezes the clay till all the air is taken 
out of it. The large cylinder-like chunks are cut off 
as they are squeezed from the pug-machine, placed on 
a revolving clay belt or elevator, and carried up two 

stories to the moulding 
room. 

The moulding room is 
supplied with a number 
of machines for mould- 
ing the clay into bowls, 
pitchers, dishes, cups, 
tankards, etc. One of 
these machines is a hol- 
low mould placed on a 
wheel whirled by hand, 
and called a wMrler. A 
chunk of clay is thrown 
into this mould and fash- 
ioned by hand to the 
shape of the interior of 
the mould. The inside of the mould gives shape to 
the outside of the pitcher or vase, and the hands of 
the workman shape the inside. The potter's lathe 
is also much used. A piece of clay is shaped into 
a cup on the end of the whirling, cup-shaped lathe. 
Next to these are the jigger machines, which work 
on the principle of the lathe, using a knife work- 
ing on a pivot to shape the clay as it whirls on the 
wheel. A helper stands close to the workman, sup- 




FiG. 12. 
Using the potter's wheel. 



EXCURSIOXS TO SHOPS AXD FACTORIES 75 

plying him ^YitIl the piece of moulding clay read}" for 
its use. In making platters and shallow dishes a 
mould is used made from plaster of Paris. The clay 
is pressed down upon the mould so as to give it the 
shape of the interior of the dish. The water in the 
clay is rapidly soaked up or absorbed by the plaster 
of Paris, and as the clay thus shrinks, in a few min- 
utes it can be removed from the mould and set on a 
shelf to dry. 

A different process of shaping tall, graceful vases 
and mugs is called casting. A hollow mould, whose 
parts are held tightly together by a hoop to prevent 
leakage, but open at the top, is filled with " soup," 
that is, a thin mixture of clay and water. As you 
look in at the top, you see the fluid mixture rapidly 
settling. The porous plaster of Paris mould takes up 
the water and the sides are plastered with a thick 
coating of clay, forming a vase or pitcher. When the 
water is all soaked away, or the final thick residue is 
poured off, the clay dries. After a cjuarter of an 
hour or more the hoop binding together the two 
halves of tiie mould is removed, the sides taken off, 
and the vase stands complete. 

The handles of pitchers and cups are made sepa- 
rately upon a dye and fastened on by wetting, before 
the cups are dry. All the different products of the 
moulding process, such as plates, cups, bowls, pitch- 
ers, vases, etc., are set upon shelves and allowed to dry 
a day or longer before putting in the kiln for burning. 

The kilns are large, circular brick structures, which 



76 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

are filled with these products ready for the burning. 
The kiln, on the inside, is dome-shaped, and about 
twelve feet high and perhaps as many broad. It is 
shaped much like a cistern, but is built over a series 
of furnaces where fires are made whose heat rises and 
gradually fills the interior. 

The dishes are not set directly in the kiln, but 
are placed in tub-like basins shaped from fire-clay, 
about the size and form of a small tin bath-tub. 
This little clay tub is about a foot and a half long 
and a foot wide, and the sides of it are an inch thick. 
The clay tubes are called seggars, and they are pre- 
pared and burned in this factory before using. Each 
seggar receives half a dozen or more cups or plates, 
the bottom having been sprinkled with sand to prevent 
sticking. If the seggar is cracked, the crack is filled 
with clay ; and the upper rim is covered with a roll of 
wet clay upon which the bottom of the upper seggar 
is set so that each seggar thus becomes air-tight. 

As the young men carry these loaded seggars into 
the kiln, balancing them easily upon their heads, they 
pile one seggar upon another till the column reaches 
the top of the kiln and is tightly wedged at the top 
to hold it firmly in place. When the kiln is com- 
pletely filled with the seggars and their contents, the 
doorway is bricked up and plastered over, and the 
firing begins. The fireman must be an expert in 
applying the heat, as a whole kiln full of dishes can 
be ruined by heating too rapidly, or by too great and 
long-continued heat. 



EXCUESIOXS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 11 

On the day we visited the pottery, one batch of 
dishes had just been taken out, which was distorted 
and misshappen by too much heat, and was worthless, 
in spite of all the labor expended upon it. The first 
large kilns in which the dishes are burned are called 
biscuit kilns, and the dishes are baked before they 
have received any glaze. After the burning process, 
which lasts day and night till complete, the fires are 
slowly slackened and very gradually the kilns cool, 
till, at the end of a week or more, the kiln is reopened 
and the dishes taken out and examined. 

If the product is satisfactory, it is passed to the 
glazing room, where tanks of glaze in licjuid form 
have been carefully prepared, and in this the dishes 
are dipped. The preparation of glaze and the dipping 
demand a skilled workman. Tliis glaze makes the 
dishes smooth, hard, and impervious to liciuids. The 
glaze dries and hardens, and the dishes are placed 
in a kiln tlie second time to fuse and burn the 
glaze. 

After this second burning, the dishes pass into the 
inspection room, where all defects are noticed, rough 
spots dressed down and polished, and the dishes made 
ready for the decorating process. An iron tool, some- 
thing like a chisel, is used to rub down and dress 
the rough spots, and sometimes a dressing wheel 
is used, by which rough places are ground down and 
smoothed. 

In the decorating room, a copper plate upon 
which the design is engraved receives the purple ink, 



78 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGEAPHY 

and its designs are transferred by a press to thin 
paper. These little patterns on paper are then cut 
and pasted upon the dishes. After about fifteen 
minutes these papers are gently washed off with 
water, and the delicate designs are found clearly 
printed upon the dishes. 

After this the further hand decoration of the dishes 
proceeds. Certain colors are given by a sprayer which 
throws or sprays certain tints upon the vase as it 
whirls upon a wheel. In anotlier department girls 
are found, giving the edges of dishes a gilt decoration 
with brushes. A peculiar and costly form of decora- 
tion called decalcomania is produced by printing cer- 
tain tints and devices on tankards and dishes. 

When the various processes of decoration are com- 
plete, a third burning takes place in kilns, and the 
dishes thus receive the final form and color. 

In the lower part of the building is the packing 
room, where large boxes and hogsheads are used for 
careful packing of these easily broken goods for ship- 
ment to many parts of the country. 

This company sells its goods in all parts of the 
United States. Their travelling agents visit many 
parts of the country and sell orders directly to 
retailers. They ship chiefly by railroad. Their 
kaolin, clays, and ground stone come from England 
and Germany, from Maryland, Florida, Vermont, 
Carolina, and other states. The common clay used 
in making seggars is obtained near Wheeling, 

The business of this factory falls into four chief 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 79 

parts : (1) the clay work, (2) the glazing, (3) the deco- 
rating, (4) the office work. A foreman skilled in his 
business is in charge of each of these departments, 
and in addition to this, experienced and skilled men 
are needed to look after the furnaces. 

At every point in the process there is danger of 
breakage and loss, and it is the business of the fore- 
nian to keep a sharp eye upon each part of the work 
assigned him. 

The president of the company has the general super- 
vision of all the various departments of the whole plant. 

In this factory, besides the men, there are many 
young women and children at work, some of the boys 
and girls probably not more than twelve years old. 

In addition to the points mentioned above, there 
are two other phases of work. The process of mak- 
ing the seggars out of common clay is like that of 
common stoneware, first by a grinding and mixing 
machine, then by moulding and baking. 

The plaster of Paris moulds used so much in the 
shaping of china ware are also prepared in the factory. 

The Akron Belting Company 

This company is engaged in making leather belts 
for use in machinery, in mills and factories. 

The power for running the machinery of this factory 
is derived from an overshot wheel, supplied with water 
from Springfield Lake, six miles from Akron (Ohio). 
This wheel is sixteen feet across and fourteen feet in 



80 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

diameter, and wlieu the water is turned on in full 
force, it gives an eighty horse-power. Usually the 
mill machinery employs fifty or sixty horse-power. 

Passing first into the basement, we saw a cutter 
marking out the hides and cutting them with a sharp 
knife into broad strips. He is a good judge of hides, 
and of the parts best suited to make strong belts. 
The central strip is usually the most firm and durable, 
and the outer parts less so. The hides thus cut into 
strips of varying widths are put into a tumbling 
wheel, where they are soaked in water. 

A scouring process follows in which the leather 
strips are slipped under a brush, supplied at each end 
also with a smooth stone which rubs down the 
leather. It is also scraped by hand to get rid of 
waste and roughness. To still more rub down the 
grain and give it a polish, it is placed under a glass 
rubber which polishes one side to a smooth surface. 

The skins are brought to a table where they are 
rubbed with a mixture of oil and tallow, which is 
rubbed into the pores, so that the leather is said to be 
stuffed and dubbed. These greased hides are hung 
up and allowed to absorb this greasy matter, and the 
dry outer layer of tallow is then scraped off. 

Each hide is also placed upon a stretching machine 
which draws it out to its full length, and in this 
stretched condition it is hung up and allowed to dry 
in a warm atmosphere. When dried, these strips 
of leather are not subject to much expansion or 
shrinkage. 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 81 

When tlie leather strips are finally ready to be 
made into belts, each strip is of the same width, and 
the ends are cut off to give a uniform length ; and at 
each end the leather is pared down to a thin edge, 
and these edges, placed end to end and spliced to- 
gether, give a uniform thickness to the belt. Usually 
the belts are made double, with the smooth outside of 
the leather exposed on both sides. The inner faces 
are spread with glue with a brush, and the double 
layer is slipped under the clamps of an hydraulic 
press, where the glued strips are subjected to a heavy 
pressure. Usually the glue is strong enough to hold 
the strips together so that the band remains firm and 
flexible. 

The spliced ends of one side are covered by the 
middle part of the other side as indicated in the 
diagram. 



Fig. 13. 
How belts are spliced. 

This glue material is very carefully prepared from 
the bladders of codfish, obtained from Gloucester, 
Massachusetts, thoroughly mixed with ordinary glue, 
and boiled and kept hot for applying to the strips 
just before placing them under the hydraulic pressure. 
Two men work at each of these hydraulic machines 
and two strips of heavy belting are continually 



82 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

emerging from the liydmulic press and are rolled up 
into large coils for storage in the stock room. 

To strengthen still more some of the belts which 
are subjected to severe pressure in mills where there is 
much moisture, ' the spliced ends of the strips are 
riveted together with brass rivets. 

Many belts are also made of single strips, glued 
together at the spliced ends. There are great varieties 
of belts in regard to width, from an incli to five feet. 
The belts are also of varying" quality and strength, 
according to thickness or quality and part of the 
hides. 

The hides used by this belting company are 
obtained from Baltimore. They are Western hides 
from the great ranches in Colorado, Texas, and Mon- 
tana, or from corn-fed cattle of the middle WesL 
These hides were shipped to Virginia, where there 
are large tanneries using the bark of the chestnut oak. 
This gives the strongest leather, such as is needed in 
heavy belting for machinery. 

From Baltimore, where there are large wholesale 
leather houses, this leather is shipped by rail to 
Akron. 

When made up into belts the product of this mill 
is sold largely to the cotton-seed oil mills in the 
Southern states, where they require a strong belting. 
These belts are also used in the cotton mills for pro- 
ducing cotton cloth. Many of the belts are also sold 
in the states of the middle West, as in Illinois, 
Michigan, and other states. 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 83 



OUTLINES FOR THE TREATMENT OF OTHER SHOPS 
AND FACTORIES 
A Foundry. 

1. The making of moulds ; wooden frames, moulding sand ; tools 

and skill of the workmen. 

2. The models and the shops for making the patterns or 

models. 

3. The furnace for melting the iron. 

4. Drawing off the molten metal ; pouring the metal into the 

moulds. 

5. Various parts of machinery made by such castings. 

6. Various kinds of castings, as stoves, water mains, farm 

machinery, etc. 

7. Kinds of skilled workmen needed ; pay of workmen. 

8. Uses of scrap iron and pig iron for the furnace. 

9. Importance of the foundry to other factories. 

A Cooper Shop. 

1. The staves and hoops used in barrel making. 

2. The frame and tools used in setting the barrel. 

3. Putting on the hoops and inserting the head. 

4. Steaming the barrel in the cylinder over the stove to soften 

the staves. 

5. Various uses of barrels ; kinds of barrels ; importance of 

barrels in many kinds of business. 

A Carpet Weaver. 

1. The parts of the loom. 

2. Placing the warp ; the harness; the swinging beam. 

3. The shuttle and its action. 

4. The weaver at his work. 

5. The day's work and its profit. 

A Stone Quarry. 

1. Location of the quarry, 

2. The rock strata. 



84 



LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 




Fig. 14. 
A stone quarry. The stone is cut out with saws. 

3. Drilling and blasting. 

4. Limestone quarry ; lime-kiln. 

5. Hauling stone ; heavy loads. 

6. Uses of the stone. 

A Bbick-yard. 

1. The clay pit ; depth and quality of clay bank. 

2. The mixing and grinding of the clay ; machinery used ; 

engine and belt. 

3. The press, and moulding of the clay. 

4. Stacking of damp brick in the yards or under a shed for 

drying. 



UXCUBSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 



85 



5. The brick-kiln for burning the brick j timS; labor, and fuel 

needed in burning. 

6. Value of brick by the thousand. 

7. Shipment and sale. 

8. Pressed brick and paving brick. 




Fig. 15. 
A brick-yard. 



A Fruit Store. 

Kinds of fruit in the store ; fresh fruits and canned fruits. 
Regions from which bananas, grapes, oranges, pineapples, 

apples, peaches, etc., are obtained. Use large map to 

locate these regions. 
Losses in the fruit business. 
Local fruits obtained, as berries, cherries, etc. 
Sources of canned fruits. 



86 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

A Grocery Stoke. 

1. List of chief things sokl in. a grocery. 

2. Sources of chief articles as flour, sugar, vegetables, coffee, 

tea, crackers, fruits, cheese, molasses, oil, salt, spices, etc. 

3. Traffic routes by Avhich groceries reach our town. 

4. Expenses and losses connected with the grocery business. 

A Bakeky. 

1. The bake oven. 

2. The kneading trough. 

3. Cakes and pies. 

4. Amount of bread and pastries made. 

5. Comparison with the home bake oven and kitchen. 

A Shoemaker. 

1. The bench and tools. 

2. Kinds of leather, lasts, thread, etc. 

3. Skill of the shoemaker. 

4. Repairing shoes. 

5. Where the leather and tools come from, 

6. Daily profit of the shoemaker 

A Tin Shop. 

1. The making of a tin cup ; soldering, soldering tools, and stove. 

2. Making a stovepipe ; machines used. 

3. Kinds of tinware made. 

4. The work of the tinner on buildings. 

A Tannery. 

1. The hides brought to the tannery. 

2. The vats and length of time needed. 

3. The use of bark and other tanning materials. 

4. The hair from the hides and its use. 

5. Effects of tanning on leather ; sources of leather. 

A Shoe Factory. (For older classes.) 

1. Kinds of leather and raw material used. 

2. Trace the various parts of the process in making a j)air 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 87 




Fig. 16. 

Some small pictures of a shoe factory, showing the men and women at work 
making shoes. Tell what you see in each. 

of shoes. Machines used in cutting and sewing uppers, 
making linings, soles, and heels, and fastening them on, 
polishing and finishing. 

3. Division of labor and skill needed. 

4. The finished products. 

5. Machine power needed, and how applied. 



88 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

6. Sale and shipment of shoes. 

7. Kinds of laborers in a factory ; work of women and chil- 

dren ; wages paid. 

A Mill and Mill-kace. 

1. Location of a floitr-niill. Grain used. 

2. The mill-race and how the water is obtained from the 

river ; the dam and mill-pond. 

3. The mill-wheel and how the power is transferred to the 

machinery. 

4. Use of a steam-engine instead of water power. 

5. The millstones or roller process. 

6. Sale and shipment of flour. 

A Woollen Mill. 

1. The great bags of raw wool. 

2. Process of cleaning and Avashing the wool. 

3. Combing the wool and spinning. 

4. The power loom ; weaving of Avoollen blankets and woollen 

cloth. 

5. Dyeing and coloring. 

6. Wholesale and retail selling. 

A Printing-office. 

1. Setting type ; kinds of type ; skill of type-setters ; leading. 

2. Putting type pages or columns in the chase. 

3. The hand-press and its work. 

4. Printing a newspaper or pamphlet. 

5. A power-press and its work. 

6. The linotype machine. 

7. Job-printing. 

8. Book-making and binding. 

A Canning Factory. 

1. Vegetables and fruits brought to the cannery, as corn, 

tomatoes, berries. 

2. Slicing the corn from the cob ; cooking the corn or tomatoes. 

3. Pilling the tin cans. 



EXCURSIONS TO SHOPS AND FACTORIES 89 

4, Sealing the cans. 

6. Storage of canned goods ; shipment. 

6. Relation of farmers and fruit growers to the canning factory. 

A Furniture Factory. 

1. Desks, tables, chairs, and cases made. 

2. The kinds of lumber used. 

3. The planing-mill ; frames and presses for gluing and fasten- 

ing panels and parts of furniture. 

4. The lathe and turned work ; carved work. 

5. Making chairs. 

6. Finishing, varnishing, and upholstering. 

7. Cane and leather work. 

8. Wholesaling and shipment. 

9. Sources of lumber supply. 

A Department Store.- (For older classes.) 

1. Size of the building. 

2. Arrangement of the goods in separate departments, with 

head salesman for each. 

3. Visit to one or more of these departments, as that for 

carpet or chinaware. 

4. Mode of collecting money for sales. 

5. Visit to the storage rooms where stocks of goods are kept. 

6. The elevators and stairways. 

7. Number of employees in a department store. 

8. Convenience and advantage of trading in such stores. 

A Machine Shop. (For older children.) 

1. Engine-house. 

2. Machines for ironwork, planes, drill machines, lathes. 

3. The foundry. The furnace, fuel, pig-iron, etc. 

4. Skilled metal workers ; their wages and hours. 

5. Boiler making. 

6. Repairing engines and machinery. 

7. Sources of pig-iron, steel, boiler plates, and other materials 

used. 



CHAPTER III 
commercial topics 

Visit to a Thiiee-masted Schooner 

At Palatka, Florida, the children enjoy a visit on 
board a three-masted schooner. Palatka is about 
seventy miles from the mouth of the St. Johns River, 
and fifty miles south of Jacksonville. The St. Johns 
in this part of its course is a broad, tidal river, spread- 
ing out at times to a width of two or three miles, 
and with about eleven or tw^elve feet of water at the 
shallowest parts of its course. Having passed the 
shallow bar at the mouth of the St. Johns, the sail- 
ing schooners, wdth their cargoes of coal from Phila- 
delphia or Norfolk, or with barrelled fertilizer from 
New Jersey, are drawn up the river by steam tugs, 
and deliver their freight at the wharves at Palatka. 
There is no coal in Florida, but it is shipped in from 
the North, to be used in gas plants, factories, and for 
heating. The fertilizer shipped from the North is 
much used for orange groves and for truck-farming, 
as the sandy soil of Florida needs strengthening. 

Sometimes three or four of these schooners are 
seen at a time unloading their wares, such as coal, 
machinery, or fertilizer, which are stored in large 
warehouses along the docks. 

90 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 91 

They are then prepared to take on the cargoes of 
cypress lumber, which stand in great stacks on the 
piers joining the big cypress sawmill at Palatka. 

Throughout the extensive swamps bordering the 
St. Johns and its tributary streams are forests of 
cypress. The logs from these swamps are cut and 
hauled by steam log pullers to the edge of the stream. 
From these logs rafts are formed, which are towed 
down the river by rafting steamers to the sawmills 
at Palatka or elsewhere. 

Sometimes the schooner is loaded directly from 
the docks, but often it is moored well out in the 
river, and great barges or flatboats are loaded with 
lumber at the lumber stacks and then towed along- 
side the schooner. First the hold is filled full of 
lumber, and the hatches are put down, and the whole 
deck between the cabins is stacked full and well 
braced, so that the lumber is held firmly in place in 
case of stormy weather. 

To board one of these schooners as it lies at anchor 
in the river is the delight of children. Sometimes 
it lies alongside the dock, and a pair of steps is set 
out so that we may walk over the railing, or again, it 
lies some hundred yards from the shore, and we must 
take a rowboat, paddle to the ship, and climb up 
the rope ladder to the deck. 

Captain Oliver, a man who has been fifty years 
upon the sea, met us on the deck as we climbed 
over the railing. We had met him on one of his 
trips the year before, and after an introduction to the 



92 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

l)()ys ]io ])egan to explain tlie arrangements of his 
sliip. It was a wooden vessel of some three hundred 
and fifty tons burden, as registered, but in case of 
need he was allowed to carry five hundred tons. In 
his recent trip to Providence, Rhode Island, his ship 
had come down " light," that is, without a cargo. 
The luml^er firm in Providence wished as speedily as 
possible a cargo of lumber from Florida, and were 
willing to pay him for going out empty. He had 
been seven days sailing from Providence to the mouth 
of the St. Johns, with favorable wind and weather. 
Sometimes he loaded for his Southern trip in Provi- 
dence, New York, Philadelphia, or in the Chesa- 
peake. 

The older boys moved quickly about the deck, 
examining the masts and rigging, the bulwarks, 
anchor and anchor chain, the capstan, compass, wheel 
and tiller, and cabins at either end of the ship. Of 
course they were anxious to climb the rigging or 
rope ladders leading from the side of the vessel to 
the top of the mainmast, and some eighty feet above 
the deck. The old captain gave them some whole- 
some advice not to look downward in their climb, 
and aw^ay they went to the dizzy height. 

The captain took us down the short stairs to his 
cabin, consisting of dining room and sitting room and 
berths. The floor was well carpeted, and the sitting 
room was comfortably supplied with a large office 
desk, sofa, easy-chairs, mirror, and all the conven- 
iences of a pleasant home room. On one side, partly 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 93 

hidden by curtains, was a broad and comfortable 
berth. A second berth was provided for any one he 
might take on the voyage with him: Adjoining this 
was the dining room, where he and the mate took 
their meals. Tv^^o sleeping berths opened also from 
this room, and the china closet. The dishes were set 
either in little boxlike places where they could not 
tumble about, or, in case of the cups, w^ere hung from 
hooks at the top of the cupboard. 

At the other end of the ship, with the long deck 
between, were the kitchen and bunks for the crew. 
The steward or cook is an important man on ship- 
board, and when the captain gets a good steward he 
prefers to keep him. A cook-stove in a tiny room 
just big enough to turn around in must answer his 
purpose ; and next to this is a small kitchen, where 
he prepares the meals for the captain and crew. 

There are five men in the crew besides the mate, 
and usually a new crew is made up every time the 
vessel starts out on a voyage. It usually takes 
them ten days or more to land the cargo and take 
on a new load for the return voyage. The crew does 
not care to lie idle for this time, as they are not ex- 
pected to do the loading and unloading. The sailors 
hire themselves, therefore, to the first outgoing cap- 
tain. 

In coming South just before winter sets in, many 
sailors are willing to engage for a trip to Florida 
without pay, so as to reach a warm winter climate. 
In the spring, likewise, they are glad to get back to 



94 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

New York or Philadelphia, and crews can be secured 
at Jacksonville for their board and passage. 

Of course the first care of a captain after leaving 
])ort is to find out the character of his crew, to get 
them sobered up, if necessary, and find out what they 
can do in furling sails and managing the ship. 

The original cost of a three-masted schooner like 
that of Captain Oliver is about 120,000. Such a vessel, 
well built, will last about twenty years, then it will 
have to be dry-docked and completely repaired at a 
cost of about half the original price. This vessel was 
built by a shipbuilding firm at Bath, Maine, much of 
the lumber coming from the Maine woods, but the 
tall masts were brought from the forests of Oregon 
or Washington. The captain was half-owner of his 
vessel, and received a regular salary as captain, besides 
his share in the profits. On account of the constant 
danger from shipwrecks, the yearly insurance on these 
vessels is about eleven per cent of the value, besides 
the insurance placed on the cargo. Captain Oliver 
told us of one shipwreck he had suffered b}^ being 
driven ashore on the coast not far from Cape Hat- 
teras. 

The crew while on shipboard are kept constantly 
at work, cleaning the decks, repairing the sails or 
rigging, painting or renewing the floors, etc. The 
rough usage to which the ship is exposed makes it 
necessary to be constantly repairing, calking, and 
renewing the battered parts. 

The vessels being built at the present time are 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 95 

much larger, as it is found that the large vessels are 
more profitable than the smaller ones. 

When the vessel at Palatka is fully loaded v^ith 
lumber, a steam tug draws it down the river past 
Jacksonville till it crosses the bar at the mouth of 
the river and spreads its sails to the ocean breeze. 

The captain of a schooner seldom gets to see his 
family, and then only a few days at a time. Leaving 
the ice-blocked harbors of our Northern ports in mid- 
winter, in ten days or two. weeks he is coasting along 
the sunny shores of the St. Johns, where ice is not 
seen. 

Captain Oliver has been so many years upon the 
sea that he does not feel at home upon the land. 
When the winds are freshening and the sails are 
spread, he feels in his element. He makes an occa- 
sional visit to his wife and grandchildren in Maine, 
but he must soon hasten back to his cabin house on 
the schooner. 

There are many places along our coasts and inland 
waters where children may visit vessels or steamers 
plying between their home city and distant ports. 
The fishing vessels sailing northward to the fishing 
grounds from the New England ports may be named. 
The trips of vessels carrying bananas and other fruit 
from Jamaica and the West Indies to New York and 
New Orleans, ships loading with cotton for New York 
and Boston, grain vessels from Galveston to the North- 
ern cities or to Europe, the loading and shipment of 
ship's supplies from Savannah and other Southern cities 



96 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

for tlie Nortli. On (lie. Pacific coast the sliiiJiiieiit of 
lumber from Puget Sound. Tlie voyages from Puget 
Sound and San Francisco northward. The exchanges 
by ship between San Francisco and Hawaii or the 
Philippines. The steamboat trip from St. Paul down 
the Mississippi River, or from Pittsburg down the 
Ohio, or from St. Louis to New Orleans. The trips 
of lake vessels between lake ports furnish similar 
lessons. Later, the voyages between American and 
European ports will open up the ocean traffic upon a 
large scale. 

Crawfordsville, Indiana, as a Centre for the 
Free Gravel Roads 

Crawfordsville, Indiana, a town of about seven 
thousand people, lies almost at the centre of a rich 
county in the west-central part of the state. Mont- 
gomery County, of which Crawfordsville is the county- 
seat, has about twenty-five thousand people, almost 
entirely engaged in farming. It is a rich agricultural 
region ; the low grounds and fields have been well 
drained with tile, so that the land is nearly all well 
cultivated. There are still some strips of forest, but 
most of the land is in well-tilled fields and , pastures. 

About the court-house and in the central part of 
the town the broad streets are well paved with brick. 
An excellent quality of vitrified brick for paving and 
other purposes is made in the kilns in the eastern 
part of the town. 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 97 

Leading out from the city in all directions are im- 
portant wagon roads, by which the country people 
bring their farm products and live stock to town for 
sale and haul back the lumber, provisions, machines, 
groceries, etc., needed on the farms. Besides grain 
and live stock, the farmers also haul wood and saw- 
logs to town, where a sawmill receives logs and 
works them into lumber. 

Just north of the town extends the valley of Sugar 
Creek, which flows westward into the Wabash River. 
The roads leading northward cross this valley and 
over bridges across the large creek, and then follow 
narrow, gorgelike valleys till they reach the upland 
levels beyond. Excellent roads have been built up 
these narrow valleys. 

The roads of this part of Indiana, when not grav- 
elled, are of clay, and become very muddy at certain 
seasons of the year, especially in the springtime, 
when the frost is coming out of the ground. All the 
roads now leading out from Crawforclsville are well 
gravelled, so that they give a solid, easy road-bed for 
wagons at all times of the year. Many also of the 
connecting roads between the chief thoroughfares 
have been gravelled. At the present time there are 
three hundred and fifty miles of well-gravelled wagon 
roads in Montgomery County centring in Crawfords- 
ville. In their original construction these roads cost 
on an average il500 per mile. In some places they 
have cost 13500 per mile, in others about $700. 

Some twenty-five or thirty years ago, the farmers 



98 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

of this part of Indiana began to form companies to 
build gravel roads along their farms; and in order to 
pay back the expense of road building, they were 
made into toll-roads, with toll-gates at intervals of two 
or three miles, where all travellers and teamsters were 
required to pay a toll or tax. 

When the farmers had gotten their money back in 
tolls, the roads were turned over to the county, 
which agreed to take care of them, and they became 
free to the public, so that this county system of roads 
is now known as the " free gravel roads system." In 
keeping in repair the free gravel roads which have 
already been built, Montgomery County spends some 
118,000 or 120,000 each year. 

There are, however, many less important roads in 
the county which have never been gravelled. These 
are under the control of the separate townships. It 
is customary for the township supervisors to build 
new gravel roads wherever they are needed, at the 
expense of the township ; and when the roads have 
been put in good condition as gravel roads, they are 
turned over to the county, which assumes the expense 
of keeping them in good repair. 

But in some cases the county itself has assumed 
the expense of first constructing the roads. In these 
different ways the number of miles of gravel road 
under county control is constantly increasing. When 
a new gravel road is to be built at the expense of a 
county, it is carefully surveyed by the county sur- 
veyor. The amount of grading, and the number of 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 99 

loads of gravel are definitely estimated in cubic yards, 
and then contracts are let for the building of the 
roads. All this work is done under the general man- 
agement of the county auditor, and there is consider- 
able expense for clerks, book-keeping, and management. 

In the construction of these roads in low and 
swampy places the road-bed is sometimes graded up 
three or four feet before the gravel is put on, while the 
hills are cut through or levelled down, so as to bring 
the road, somewhat like a railroad, to a more com- 
mon level. The dirt from the roadside, being thrown 
toward the centre, leaves a ditch on either side for 
water and drainage. The gravel needed for these 
roads is obtained from gravel pits as near as possible 
to those parts of the road which are being constructed. 
These gravel beds are found pretty well distributed 
all over the county. Gravel in the beds is sold at 
from ten to twenty cents a load. This, together 
with the cost of hauling, makes the average expense 
about seventy-five cents a load. These gravel roads 
have been so extensively built about the county that 
good coarse gravel has become somewhat scarce, and 
it has been necessary to dig deeper, sometimes to the 
depth of fifteen or twenty feet, to secure good gravel. 
In these holes, of course, the water collects, so that it 
is necessary sometimes to use machines for scooping 
the gravel from under the water. In other parts of 
the state, where gravel is less easily obtained, the roads 
are sometimes built with broken and crushed stone. 

Heavy loads, such as logs, stone, wood, grain, and 

L.ofC. 



100 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

coal, are apt to cut up these well-built gravel roads, 
doing great damage and causing heavy expense for 
repairs. In the spring season, especially when the 
frost is thawing out and the roads are soft, heavy 
loads do great damage. In order to prevent such 
injuries, the legislature of Indiana has passed a law 
fixing the limit in pounds to wagon loads, and requir- 
ing also broad-tired wagon wheels instead of narrow 
tires which cut into the gravel. A fine also of $50 
or more is imposed upon teamsters who violate 
this law, and road commissioners in different counties 
are authorized to arrest and bring offenders to trial. 
In spite of these laws, however, and fines, much 
damage is done to gravel roads by heavily loaded 
wagons. It is not unusual to see log wagons heavily 
laden, or oil wagons of the Standard Oil Company, and 
other well-loaded vehicles, travelling over these well- 
gravelled roads. 

The advantages of the free gravel road system to 
the farmers and to the city of Crawfordsville are very 
great. Farmers are able to travel to town in wagons 
or buggies with great ease, and without mud at all 
seasons of the year. They can haul their grain and 
other farm produce at any time when it is convenient. 
On Saturdays and holidays, especially, farmers and 
their families flock to town for their weekly trade, 
and they can travel many miles in a very short time 
over such excellent roads. 

Another advantage of the free gravel roads is 
the great help they give in the establishment of town- 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 101 

ship schools, or what are known as consolidated 
schools. Instead of five or six small country schools, 
scattered over the township, in some townships one 
large, two-story brick building with four rooms is 
built for the whole township. Four covered wagons 
or busses are regularl}^ employed to carry the children 
from the more distant parts of the township to school, 
and it is necessary to have good roads for these 
wagons. In this way the country children are sup- 
plied with a first-class graded school in a good build- 
ing, well heated and ventilated. Some four or five 
of these township schools have been established in 
Montgomery County, and others will doubtless follow. 
It is expected, also, that these schoolhouses will 
become meeting-places for the community for enter- 
tainments, lectures, etc. 

Another advantage of the free* gravel road system is 
its assistance in the rural mail delivery. Wherever 
the gravel roads are established, the government 
arranges for the free delivery of mail to farmers. 
Each mail carrier has a small covered cart in which 
he moves rapidly over the country roads. Over bad, 
muddy roads it would be impossible for mail-carriers 
to cover their routes. 

As one travels over these gravel roads into the 
country, one sees numerous telephone lines, as in a 
city street, built to connect the farmhouses with the 
city. A telephone line reaches nearly every farm- 
house. In this way the farmers have instant com- 
munication with merchants, doctors, and other people 



102 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

in the city, and on account of the good roads, can 
cjuickly procure assistance in time of need. 

The gravel roads of Montgomery County connect 
with similar free gravel roads of the neighboring 
counties, so that one may travel on a bicycle, or in a 
carriage or automobile, rapidly from large town to 
large town. Indianapolis, of course, is the great 
centre for the gravel road system of the state. 

From what has been said, it is clear that the town- 
ship, county, and state have an important interest and 
duty in keeping up good roads. 

Crawfordsville is also the centre for the railroads 
of the county. Three railroads, the Monon, the Big 
Four and the Terre Haute and Logansport cross the 
county in three directions, and connect Crawfordsville 
with the smaller towns in the county and with neigh- 
boring county-seats in other counties, and with Indian- 
apolis, Chicago, etc. Over these railroads are shipped 
the grain and cattle and other products of the county 
to the great centres of trade, such as Indianapolis, 
Cincinnati, Cleveland, etc. 

Most of the cities of Indiana are county-seats like 
Crawfordsville, and have a similar system, more or 
less complete, of gravel roads spreading out into the 
county. The same is true in many other states north 
and south, east and west. 

Two electric lines have been projected to connect 
Crawfordsville with other villages and cities. Many 
of the larger county-seats of Indiana are already 
supplied with one or more electric car lines. These 




-^ M 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 103 

electric lines also bring many of the farm places into 
quick and easy communication with the cities. 

At the county-seat it is not difficult to get a map 
of the county which gives clearly the system of roads 
radiating from this centre, and this will prove valuable 
to the teacher and the class. 



THE KNOXVILLE BRIDGE (OUTLINE) 

1. View of the river valley, hills, etc. 

2. Boats and barges on the river. 

3. The lime-kilns. 

4. The rafts and lumber mills. 

5. The marble quarries. 

6. The court-house. House of Earragut. 

7. The Knox Landing and village creek. 

8. The University. 

9. The waterworks. 

10. Road to the village. 

11. The mountains. Great Smokies. 

12. Comparisons. 

The View prom Knoxville Bridge 

The chief business street of Knoxville, Tennessee, 
crosses the Tennessee River toward the southeast on 
a high bridge. From this bridge a remarkably good 
view of the river valley and city can be had. 

The bridge is a solid structure built on five or six 
great stone piers, and rises a hundred feet or more 
above the river. It is as broad as a street, well })aved, 
and has spaces for wagons, street cars, and foot-pas- 
sengers. 



104 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

Tlie wooded hills, sloping up from the river and 
covered in part by heavy forests, rise about four hun- 
dred feet above the river. The lower hills and inter- 
vening valleys upon which the city is built lie on the 
northwest. There is no low bottom-land along the 
river, but on both sides the slopes rise somewhat 
abruptly. The general view both up and down the 
valley has a somewhat mountainous aspect, as rounded 
or pointed hills are seen in the distance which resem- 
ble mountains. 

A steamboat pushing a large barge or flatboat 
comes puffing up the river, and passing under the 
bridge proceeds to the stone quarries above. A small 
steam-launch carries excursionists up and clowm the 
river, and an occasional rowboat passes across or up 
the stream. 

A little below the north end of the bridge is a 
cluster of large, round lime-kilns. The smoke or 
the steam is issuing from the top of one of them, and 
the sloping tramway on which the limestone rock is 
carried in trucks from the boats in the river to the 
lime-kiln is plainly seen. Farther up the river are 
limestone ciuarries, from which stone is loaded upon 
flatboats and floated down to the kilns, wdiere it is 
burned and then used at Knoxville for plaster, mor- 
tar, etc. 

On the other side of the river are numerous- rafts 
of logs, which look as if they had been stranded on the 
high sloping sides or clay banks in time of freshets. 
Looking just above these we may see piles of lumber 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 105 

and a large sawmill, which is engaged in converting 
these logs into valuable lumber. The logs come in 
rafts from the forests near the river banks farther up- 
stream. About four miles above Knoxville are also 
marble cjuarries, where marble slabs are gotten out, 
placed on llatboats, and floated down to Knoxville, 
where they are sawed into sections, polished, and used 
in furniture or for building purposes. Back from the 
river also are found great marble quarries, where 
building materials are gotten and shipped by rail. 
These marbles are very hard, almost like granite, are 
quite costly building material, and are of varied colors, 
as pink, cream-colored, striped, red, etc. 

Just beyond the north end of the bridge is the county 
court-house, and in front of it stands a marble monu- 
ment to John Sevier, the pioneer Indian figliter, and 
the first governor of Tennessee. Close by this is a 
stone tablet marking the spot of the first blockhouse, 
the earliest defence of the pioneer settlers. 

On the north side, and a little above the bridge, a 
deep valley between the hills sends a small creek into 
the river. At the outlet of this creek is a small 
flat spot which was used by the earliest settlers as 
a landing-place, and was called Knox Landing. Here 
the first houses were built, and then, as the village 
grew, stretched back into the valley of the creek 
and up the hillsides. In time it came to be known 
as Knoxville. 

Just above this valley, on the hill slope next the 
river, is a log hut, which was the home of Farragut as 



106 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

a boy. The hut lias been lately shingled and })ut in 
repair, so as to protect the logs from decay. 

Two or three blocks farther down the river on the 
w^est side. are seen the buildings of the University of 
Tennessee, on the top of a hill some two hundred feet 
above the river. It is here that the great Summer 
School of the South is in session, and students from 
all the Southern States are gathered. The university 
was founded more than a hundred years ago. 

On a still higher hill to the north, whose sloping 
sides are covered with houses, is the great water- 
tow^er and waterworks. The water is pumped from 
the river above the city into large tanks, where it 
filters through six feet of sand, which takes the yellow 
color and impurities out of the water, so that it comes 
out clear and clean. 

The road across the bridge branches in two direc- 
tions, in which lie two villages, and leads out through 
the valleys. One of these villages on the sloping hill- 
sides is devoted to truck-farming, and supplies vege- 
tables and fruits to the city market. The whole 
county in this direction is broken up into little hills 
and valleys, stretching away eastward toward the 
mountains. 

On any clear day from the banks of the river near 
this bridge, one may see the dark ridge of the Great 
Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, somewhat dim 
in the blue haze, but still plainly in sight, and rising 
far above the nearer ranges of hills and mountains. 

A few only of the interesting and instructive 



I 



COMMEBCIAL TOPIC'S 107 

objects which can be seen from this bridge are thus 
described. There are also churches, factories, public 
buildings, and hilltops to be seen in a broad pano- 
rama. It is profitable to take two or more excursions 
to this spot at different seasons, to locate the roads 
leading into the country, the railroad bridge crossing 
just below, and the trains going east, and the course 
of boats and steamers with their cargoes down the 
river southwards. 

There are many similar points of view from bridges 
across rivers in different parts of the country. At 
present we recall especially the following, the bridge 
across the Mississippi River just below the falls at 
Minneapolis. It is high above the river, spanning the 
gorge and viewing the falls, the University of Minne- 
sota, and the city. Ten miles below the high bridge 
at St. Paul offers an equally striking and varied pros- 
pect or group of views. The great bridge at St. Louis, 
the high bridge across the Mississippi at Clinton, 
Iowa, at Winona, Minnesota, and at other cities, pre- 
sents in each a grand panorama of river, wooded 
bluffs, and cit}''. The great suspension bridge across 
the Niagara River below the falls, the New York and 
Brooklyn Bridge, are also notable illustrations. The 
bridges at Montreal, the London Bridge across the 
Thames, easily recur to mind. In a great number of 
villages and towns all over the country such a bridge 
excursion is possible, and is a good type of such things 
the world over. Such an excursion as the above 
described may be sometimes made within the limits 



108 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGIiAPTIT 

of a school period of an liour, or just after school, 
and the materials gathered furnish uiaterial for school 
treatm.ent for two or three lessons. 

Trip to Tower of Montgomery Ward Building 
IN Chicago 

With some children we were carried in elevators 
to the top of the tower of the Montgomery Ward 
building, which stands on Michigan Avenue near 
Lake Michigan, three blocks south of the mouth of 
the Chicago River, The top of this tower is three 
hundred and ninety-four feet above the sidewalk, and 
the view from the railing near its top opens up some 
of the most striking sights of Chicago at the centre 
of its business activity. 

One cannot see very far in any direction because 
of the smoke which droops down like a thick fog 
over everything. Even toward the lake the sky is 
clouded with the dark pall of smoke upon quiet 
days, when the wind cannot blow it away, and one 
can just see at times the lighthouse and breakwater. 
On the east, and only a block away, is the edge of the 
lake or inner harbor, which is a protected part of it, 
where ships may float at safe anchorage. The pas- 
sageway through which the big lake vessels are 
hauled out by little puffing tugboats to the open 
lake is clearly seen. The long stretch of breakwater 
on the northeast is seen, and beyond that an occa- 
sional glimpse of a lake vessel may be had. On a 



COMMEBCIAL TOPICS 



109 



clear clay may be seen the cribs of the water depart- 
ment, which are froin two to four miles out in the 
lake, but often the smoke hangs so thickly over the 
city and the shores of Lake Michigan that nothing 
can be seen more than a mile away. 

In the harbor are noticed two large steam dredges, 
each supplied with an iron shovel, upon the end of a 
great beam which 
reaches down into 
the dirt of the har- 
bor bed and scoops 
up a load which is 
lifted and dumped 
into a flatboat. 
Smaller boats, 
sailing craft, and 
steamboats are also 
anchored or mov- 
ing to and fro in 
the harbor. 

At the mouth of 
the Chicago River are some large warehouses and 
grain elevators, and close under their sides are several 
large lake vessels loading with grain. This grain 
is brought to the elevators in trains of railroad 
cars, taken up into the elevators, and then sent by 
chutes into the holds of the vessels. Just south of 
these elevators are the freight houses and yards of 
the Illinois Central Railroad, covering several acres 
of ground. A great causeway for wagons and drays 




Fig. 19. 
A huge grain elevator near the waterside. 



110 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

passes over the long lines of ears which here fill nearly 
forty parallel tracks, and reache§ a dock where ves- 
sels are loaded and unloaded. This is perhaps one 
of the best places to see the connection between the 
terminals of the great railroad line and the steamboat 
freight line. As one's eye follows the course of the 
river into the city, many large lake vessels are seen 
along its banks and wharves. 

The tracks of the Illinois Central extend southward 
along the lake shore a mile to the great passenger 
depot, which can be dimly seen through the smoke. 
The tracks of this line have been sunk about twelve 
feet below the level of the lake front, and great 
causeways lead over these tracks to a broad strip 
of what was once lake, but is now being filled up 
along the lake front to form a park. Great heaps 
of dirt and rubbish are being piled up in the shallow 
water, and in a few years the whole will be raised 
to a safe level above the lake, and covered wdth grass 
and trees. At present, just below us on the lake 
front, stands the low brick building of the temporary 
post-office, which has been for several years the centre 
of the vast post-office business of Chicago. 

A few blocks to the south, on the lake front, stands 
the Art Institute, which is devoted to fine art in the 
form of painting and sculpture. It may seem strange 
in the very centre of this smoke-begrimed city to see 
a beautiful building devoted to the choicest specimens 
of fine art in painting and marVjle. One block to the 
north stands the city public library, also a very fine 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 111 

building devoted to books and scholarship in the very 
centre of the busiest trade by land and water. 

Directly to the south, some five or six blocks away, 
is seen the Auditorium Hotel, in whose tower the chief of 
the weather bureau for Chicago makes liis observations. 
To the southwest is seen the vast dome of the new post- 
office building, which is now nearing completion. Only 
a few blocks to the west stands the court-house and the 
city hall, hidden from sight by the thick smoke or by 
the tall sky-scraper buildings. The Masonic Temple, 
largest and tallest of them all, seems almost as tall 
as the tower upon which we stand, and nearer to us 
we see the great buildings of Marshall Field. The 
whole region immediately w^est of us is filled with 
towering buildings, such as can be seen nowhere else 
in such abundance, except at the lower end of New 
York City on Manhattan Island. From our high 
perch in the tower we can look down upon the high- 
est of these buildings, as might a bird flying over the 
city. On the tops of these largest buildings are seen 
great tanks wdiich are kept filled with water, pumped 
into them from below. These are a protection against 
fires, and for use in other ways. In case of fire such 
a great tank of water at the top of these buildings 
ready for immediate use, must be of great value. 

Far below us on Wabash Avenue, one block to the 
west, we can see the trains of the elevated railroad 
as they move in both directions around the great loop, 
and are at this very hour carrying thousands of pas- 
sengers in four directions, to distribute them toward 



112 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

the outskirts of the city. At the same time we can 
see the electric and cable cars moving in both direc- 
tions upon almost every street. Automobiles spin along, 
loaded drays and wagons, bicycles, busses, and carriages 
throng the streets, while many hundreds of people on 









4 

i 


'tii'j^^^ 


-■^^Mi^ 


At 


,,.-:::,:sh:. ' 


m 


■ 


^^Ht^ 


l^^^^l 


Mmj^^pK 






SM^^^yJ 


H^'-''^p*v^^ 



Fig. 20. 
In a busy Chicago street. 

foot are seen, like so many pygmies, moving along up 
and down. 

As one closes his eyes to listen, he is almost surprised 
at the great tumult of noises which rises to the high 
point upon which we stand. Railroad trains and loco- 
motives are constantly passing, the rattle and din of car- 
riages and carts, the street cars and elevated trains, the 
hammering of workmen upon the great iron frames of 
new buildings near, and a multitude of other noises 
produce such a tumult of sounds, that conversation is 
almost drowned. 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 113 

The general view across the smoking city, on ac- 
count of the thousands of smoking chimneys and 
steam vent pipes, might easily make one think that 
he stood on the brink of a volcano, or that the 
city was just breaking forth into one great confla- 
gration. 

Much has been said in the past few years about 
the smoke nuisance in Chicago, and there are severe 
ordinances and fines against it, but as one stands on 
a windless day on the summit of this tower, the one 
convincing fact is that Chicago is smoke over- 
whelmed. 

The region just west of the tower about the ele- 
vated loop is the centre of the great retail trade. 
Here are seen the great department stores, where not 
only the people of Chicago, but thousands from the 
neighboring towns, come to shop. At all times these 
immense department stores are well filled with busy 
throngs of people ; but in the weeks before Christmas, 
such crowds of people swarm into these beehives of 
trade that it is almost suffocating, and it is quite 
difficult to get proper service. 

At the northeast sides of the loop, and about the 
mouth of the river, is located a part of the heavy 
wholesale business. . Here the streets are so full of 
loaded drays and wagons that passage is often 
obstructed. 

Sights somewhat similar to those briefly described 
above may be seen from many other high buildings 
in Chicago. A visit to the top, or even some of the 



114 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

upper stories, of any high building will give a lookout 
of a similar kind. 

In other cities, of course, the same opportunity may 
be had, as in Cleveland, St. Paul, Boston, San Fran- 
cisco, Galveston, New York, Savannah, Cincinnati, etc. 

OTHER COMMERCIAL TOPICS OUTLINED 

The Local Town or Village as a Trade Cextre. 

1. Chief streets and roads leading into the country. 

2. Products brought into town by wagon, as grain, hay, meat, 

wood, stone, live stock. 

3. Goods carried into the country from the town, as machin- 

ery, dry-goods, groceries, lumber, coal, oil, etc. 

4. Goods shipped into or out of the town by railroads or by 

boat. 

5. Number and direction of railroads, rivers, etc. 

6. Electric lines reaching into the country. 

7. Chief factories that ship goods out of the town. 

8. The town as a centre for railroads and wagon roads. Map. 

A Freight Office or Station. 

1. Variety of goods stored at a freight station. 

2. Freighting by the car-load. 

3. Expense of freighting by the car-load and by the hundred 

pounds. 

4. Goods received for sale in the town. 

5. Goods shipped out from the factories of the town. 

6. Other modes of sending goods by express and by post-office. 

A Grain Elevator. 

1. Grain brought by wagons. 

2. System of elevating grain by belts and cups. 

3. The bins for storing grain. 

4. Loading cars from the chutes. 

5. Use of elevators along railroads and docks. 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 



115 



A City Market. 

1. Special days when the market is open. 

2. Different portions of the market for vegetables, fruits, meats, 

fish, etc. 

3. The hours of marketing and the throngs of people. 

4. Where the produce comes from. 

A Visit to a Kiver Steamer or Ocean Liner. 

1. Size and arrangement of the steamer. 

2. Passenger deck ; staterooms; dining rooms, etc. 




Fig. 21. 
A river steamer. 

3. The freight room on lower deck ; goods shipped by steamboat. 

4. The engines and wheels or screw. 

5. Towns between which the steamboat plies ; expense of 

freighting compared with that by railroad. 

6. Visit to an ocean liner in the same way. 

A Canal-boat and Canal-lock. 

1. Visit to a canal-boat loading ; goods freighted in this way. 

2. Mode of propelling a canal-boat. 

3. Size and capacity of a canal-boat. 

4. The lock ; its walls and gates. 

5. Passing the lock. 



116 



LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 




Fig. 22. 
The Locks iu the Erie Canal at Lockport, 




Fig. 23. 
A scene at the docks in New York City. 



COMMERCIAL TOPICS 



117 



A Visit to the Shipping Docks. 

1. Modes of loading and freighting vessels. 

2. Goods loaded and unloaded. 

3. Machinery for hoisting goods from vessels. 

4. Vessels to and from different points. 

A Ferry-boat Eide at New York. 

1. Trip from Desbrosses St. Station to the Pennsylvania docks 

in New Jersey. 

2. Various river-craft seen, boats, ocean liners, war vessels, 

railroad ferries, tugs, launches, rowboats, schooners, dredge 
boats, barges, etc. 

3. View of New York City from the river ; the great build- 

ings ; long lines of docks. 

4. Docks of the great ocean steamship lines. 










^^'fl^'^^ ^\ 



Fig. 24. 
Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. 

The Brooklyn Bridge. 

Length and size of the bridge. 
The great piers and cables. 

Various passageways for car lines, wagons, and foot-pas- 
sengers. 
Views of New York and Brooklyn from the bridge. 
The shipping in the river. 
Construction and cost of the bridge. Its value and utility. 



118 



LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 



A Trip on the Elevated Road. 
How the roads are built on iron supports. 
The stations and their frequency. 

The speed of movement compared with street cars and rail- 
road trains. 




Fig. 25. 
An elevated railway in New York City. 

4. Views of business blocks and busy streets. 

5. Views of churches, hotels, parks, etc. 

6. Great difference in buildings in different parts of the city. 

7. Crowded travel in the business part of the city. 

8. Convenience of elevated roads for rapid transit. 



CHAPTER IV 
garden, farm, and dairy 
Excursion to a Nursery 

Near the schoolhouse at Normal, Illinois, is a nurs- 
ery where fruit trees, shade trees, ornamental bushes, 
and small-fruit plants are cultivated and sold to 
growers. 

In April an excursion is often made with the chil- 
dren to the packing grounds of this nursery. At this 
season the nurserjmien are very busy packing the 
young trees and plants for shipment to many parts 
of the country. 

The children notice large pine boxes some twelve 
feet long, and three feet square at the end. Straw is 
thrown into the bottom of the box, and then the 
apple trees, two or three years old, are wrapped at 
the roots with wet moss and packed into the box. 
When the box is full the whole is drenched with 
water, so as to keep the roots damp during the time 
of shipment. Wagon-loads of these boxes are driven 
to the station, where they are freighted to all parts 
of Illinois and neighboring states. 

Sometimes a small consignment of plants or trees 
is wrapped first in moss, then in straw, and the whole 

119 



120 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

carefully bound with strong cord and shipped thus 
without boxing. 

The straw for packing is obtained from the farms 
near by ; but the fine moss, which holds moisture and 
keeps the roots damp, is obtained from the swamp 
lands of Michigan. 

In the packing grounds the children see thousands 
of young trees, apple, pear, jDeach, cherry, and shade 
trees, closely packed together with their roots in the 
dirt, having been collected from the nursery fields and 
thus " healed in " in readiness for shipping. Ever- 
green trees, lilacs, rose bushes, hedge plants, and 
others are also kept in abundance ujoon the packing 
grounds. 

In late winter another excursion can be made to 
the long cellar-like houses where the grafting and 
budding of young fruit trees are carried on. The 
young seedlings are raised by thousands the preceding 
summer, and upon the roots of these the choice kinds 
of fruit are grafted or budded. The process of cutting 
and wrapping can be learned, and in the trees a year 
or two older the effects of the budding or grafting 
can be seen. In this connection children may learn 
how our domestic fruits have been developed and 
how varieties are obtained and propagated. 

The apple seeds used for raising seedlings are 
brought often from Europe, where they are obtained 
from the pulps of apples used in the cider-presses. 

A practical lesson is learned upon these excursions 
as to how to plant and to care for young trees. In 



GARDEN, FABM, AND DAIEY 121 

connection with arbor clay this is the best mode of 
encouraging the planting and care of trees. 

Spring or early fall is also a good time to go 
through the nursery fields, to observe the cultivation 
of various fruit and ornamental trees, and to notice 
how^ rapid is the growth of young plants. 

In the discussion and reproduction of the main 
facts learned upon these excursions, the value of the 
nursery to farmers and fruit-growers, as a necessary 
source from which to obtain young trees and plants 
of all kinds, is emphasized. In the prairie and tree- 
less regions of the West and in fruit-growing regions, 
the importance of the nurseries in the last thirty years 
has been very great. 

Children may be led to discriminate in their obser- 
vations between apple, peach, pear, and cherry trees, 
so that they can recognize them in later observations ; 
also betw^een the kinds of shade trees, as maple, box- 
elder, elm, oak, cottonwood, etc. 

The H. B. Gueler Dairy, De Kalb, Illinois 

We visited one of the best dairies of northern 
Illinois on the Clover Farm of H. B. Gurler, about 
three miles southwest of De Kalb. On this dairy 
farm all the conditions for securing good, wholesome 
milk are carefull}^ provided. 

The farm itself is of 240 acres, and the whole herd 
of cows consists of about 175 head, which are housed 
in three large cow stables or barns. At any given 



122 



LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 



time about two-thirds of the cows are giving milk. 
In case of the young calves, the heifers are kept for 
future milkers, while the others are sold to cattle men 
or butchers. In a dairy it is desirable, of course, to 
secure cows which produce the largest amount of 




Fig. 26. 
The 'cow barn. 

standard milk. Beef cattle producing a smaller 
amount of milk are gotten rid of to the butchers. 
All cattle when brought into this dairy are tested 
by state officials for tuberculosis, and at regular 
periods the whole herd is tested. Cows found in- 
fected with this disease are killed, and half the 
expense borne by the state. This precaution is taken, 



GARDEN, FARM, AND DAIRY 123 

of course, to prevent the spread of tuberculosis among 
the people who use the milk. 

A good share of the feed for these cows is raised 
upon the farm. This year 160 acres of corn were 
raised, cut up, and stored in six large silos, which are 
built in or near the cow barns. The corn, which is 
planted somewhat thick in the rows, is allowed to 
grow till it is just past the roasting ear stage, when 
a machine is used to cut it down and tie it in bundles. 
Being brought to the barn, it passes through a corn 
chopper, which cuts stalk, ears, and leaves into fine 
shreds, when it is lifted, by means of elevator band 
and cups, to the top of the silo, and dumped in. It 
is necessary to have a rich, palatable food for cows, 
which will keep them well, with good, hearty diges- 
tion, so as to secure a large amount of wholesome milk. 
The dairyman needs experience and wisdom in pro- 
viding his cows with this kind of palatable, digestible 
food. During the spring, summer, and fall the cows 
are turned upon pasture, and as many acres as pos- 
sible are provided for their use. In this respect the 
seasons vary greatly, and wdien grass fails, other food 
must be provided. 

In order to secure pure milk, it is necessary to have 
pure drinking water. On the Gurler farm the cows 
are not allowed to drink from the creek which flows 
near by, nor from ponds, nor even from surface wells. 
Several deep wells have been bored, from 180 to 200 
feet deep, and the water from these is pumped by a 
gasoline engine into large metal tanks, where the 



124 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

cattle drink freely. When the water is cold, in 
winter, it is warmed by mixing it with heated water, 
so that the cows may drink more freel}^ This kind 
of watering of milk is quite satisfactory to the cows, to 
the consumer, and to the dairyman. On many dairy 
farms, where no special provision is made for clean 
water, the cows drink from ponds and sloughs, and 
the milk is made impure and disease-producing. 

An up-to-date, modern cow stable is an interest- 
ing place to visit. One of the smaller stables of 
Mr. Gurler, on the upper floor, had thirty-three 
cows, arranged in three rows. The floor is a solid 
cemented pavement, which is thoroughly washed out 
and cleansed once a day w^ith a hose and water. The 
water is pumped into large raised tanks, so as to 
supply a strong force to serve in this cleansing of 
stables. The stalls and walls are whitewashed twice 
a year to insure purity and cleanliness. This stable 
is also ventilated, so as to secure a constant stream of 
fresh air, even in the coldest weather, but it is siiug 
and warm, having a hay-loft well filled above, and 
close sides. Cows to do well as milk-producers, must 
be kept in healthy, comfortable surroundings. The 
stall for each cow is small and narrow, with a feed- 
ing trough in front ; the floor of the stall is well 
bedded with straw, with a trench at the back for 
waste materials. 

The milking is done twice a day, at four in the 
morning and at four in the afternoon. In preparation 
for the milking the milk-pails are washed and ster- 



GARDEN, FARM, AND DAIRY 



125 




Fig. 28. 
Milking. 



ilized, so as to be clean and free from germs. The 
top of each milk-pail is then covered with a double 
thickness of cheese-cloth, and with a laj^er of sterilized 
cotton between, and through this triple cloth sieve 



126 LESSORS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

the milk passes in milking. The young man in 
preparation for milking puts on a clean white milk- 
ing suit and washes his hands. The udders of the 
cows are first washed to clear away all dirt, and then 
the milker begins. He first strips away two or three 
times to clear the milk duct, and then begins to 
direct the milk into the pail. As soon as a single 
cow is milked, her milk is weighed and the record 
of the quantity put on a separate tablet, so that the 
exact amount of milk produced by each cow is kept, 
and if she does not prove profitable, she can be 
fattened and sold for beef. 

The pail of milk is then at once poured into a 
large milk-can, which is kept closed, and wdien this is 
filled from the several cows, it is immediately carried 
to the milk-house. 

At the milk-house everything is ready, under the 
direction of a foreman and helpers, to put it through 
a series of processes and bottle it up for shipment. 

It is first poured into a large tin tank or recep- 
tacle, from which it flows through a pipe into a sepa- 
rator. This, by a swift centrifugal action, separates 
the cream from the milk, and each pours out through 
a tube into a tin trough leading into the cooler. If 
there is too much skim milk for the amount of cream, 
part of the skim milk is taken out, so as to keep the 
milk up to a standard of richness. In the cooler the 
milk passes into contact with pipes cooled with iced 
water, so that the animal heat is removed. The 
cooler pours the milk and cream mixed again into a 




Fig. 29. 
Weighing the milk. 




Fig. 30. 
The sterilizing room. 



GARDEN, FARM, AND DAIRY 127 

tin tank, from which it passes into a series of milk 
bottles just below. As the milk passes into these 
bottles the air bubbles and foam are allowed 
time to escape, and then the bottles are passed to 
two helpers, who place the cardboard stopper and 
the metal seal upon each bottle. This metal seal 
bears the stamp of the current date ; for example, 
Nov. 6, 1903, The bottles are then packed in ice in 
the boxes, and are ready for shipment or hauling to 
the railroad station. 

This room where the milk is handled has a cement 
floor, and water is used freely on the machines and 
on the floors, to keep everything in a cleanly condition. 

In a neighboring room are two engines, one a gaso- 
line and one a steam engine, which are used for 
pumping water from the deep well into the tanks 
for use in the milk-house and in the barns. These 
engines are also used for running the machinery of 
the milk room and to supply steam for the sterilizing 
room. 

The sterilizing room is something like a large bank 
vault, which can be rendered air-tight by closing a 
heav}^ door. In this room, after they are thoroughly 
washed in tepid water, are placed the milk bottles, 
the tin tanks and tubes, and the parts of the separa- 
tor machine (which has been taken to pieces and 
washed) — in fact, all the vessels through which the 
milk has passed in the milk room. 

When all these bottles, cans, etc., have been ranged 
in the sterilizing room, the heavy door is closed, and 



128 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

steam is admitted tlirough a pipe from the engine, 
and gradually the room and its contents are subjected 
to a powerful steam heat. This destroys all germs 
and puts all the apparatus for handling milk in a 
perfect condition for future use. 

The one purpose of all this care in the watering 
and feeding of the cows, in the cleanliness of the 
stables, in the milking process, in the handling of the 
milk in the milk room, in the sterilizing of the uten- 
sils, and in the sealing and icing of the milk before 
its shipment, is to secure mWk free from germs, which 
can be swallowed even by little children and sick 
people, without conveying disease germs to the 
stomachs of those who use the milk. 

Without constant care at every step it is easy for 
these germs to get into the milk — from the water 
given to the cows, from the dirt and filth of the 
stables, from the unclean hands and clothes of the 
milkers, from dirty utensils and impure water used 
in the milk room, and from large, more or less open 
cans, in which the milk is peddled about town. 

When these sealed bottles of certified milk reach 
our kitchen doors, and are opened by the maid for 
use at the breakfast table, it is reasonably certain 
that no disease germs are to be found in the milk, 
that it is rich, sweet, and pure. Such milk is one of 
the best foods. It is claimed by good physicians that 
a supply of such pure milk has saved the lives of 
many infants, and that one reason why so many 
babies die in our large cities and towns is because of 



GARDEN, FARM, AND DAIRY 129 

the impure milk that has been supplied by careless 
dairymen and milkmen. 

Of course milk that has been provided with all 
this care and expense for labor and machinery is 
worth more than the milk that is peddled about in 
large open milk-cans. Many people do not know the 
difference and buy the cheaper milk, though the 
danger from disease and sickness may in the end 
make it much more costly. 

It is only in the last few years that people gener- 
ally have begun to understand the very great dangers 
to health in the impure milk which is sold in such 
vast cjuantities. In New York City, for example, 
during the last summer, the regular officers of the 
health department have made a campaign against 
impure milk. Many of the large dairies have been 
inspected by officers from the city and certificates 
given them for furnishing good milk under healthy 
conditions. It is claimed that the results of this 
closer milk inspection by experts has greatly improved 
the milk delivered to New York City, and has saved 
the lives of many people, thus improving the general 
health of the city. It has been proven that the 
germs of tjqohoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and 
other diseases are often conveyed through milk, and 
that no one is free from these dangers wdio uses 
impure milk. 

During the last summer Chicago also has been 
making a crusade against bad milk, and has estab- 
lished a closer inspection of milk by health officers. 



130 lesso:n'S in home geography 

Wlien we consider that all the people everywhere, 
in town, city, and countr\', are equally interested in 
•good milk, and that scarcely a family anywhere is 
free from the dangers of the carelessness and un- 
cleanl}" habits of dairymen and milk venders, it is 
evident that we need everywhere a close inspection 
of dairies and the enforcement of right methods and 
standards for the production and handling of milk. 

Thei'e is only one way to secure good milk ; that is, 
to have it properly cared for at the stalDles, in the 
milk-house, and to have it delivered to consumers in 
sealed bottles. 

The state government provides for inspectors who 
go to the different dairy-farms and test the cattle for 
tuberculosis. The local government of the large 
cities appoints officers whose business it is to inspect 
the milk brought into the city, and to visit the 
dairies in the country, examine their processes of 
caring for the milk, and certify to the good quality 
of the milk delivered. In this manner the unhealth- 
ful conditions prevailing in many of the dairies have 
been largely removed, and a much improved quality 
of milk has been brought to the citj^ people. But 
large cpiantities of impure milk are sold everywhere, 
and there is still great need of further improvement. 

Excursion to the Creamery at Cornell 

In an excursion to the creamery with a class of stu- 
dents at Cornell University, we observed the processes 



GARDEN, FABM, AND DAIRY 



131 



of dealing with milk brought from the farm or 
dair}^ 

It was brought daily from the farm in large milk- 
cans, was received in the weighing room, and after 
straining was poured into a tank which stood just 
above the separator. In this tank the milk was 




Fig. 31. 

Some of the buildings of Cornell University. Lake Cayuga is seen in the 

distance. 

cooled by contact with pipes in which cold water 
w^as kept flowing. 

The separator is a skilfully devised machine for 
taking the milk from the cream. As the milk is 
whirled round in a rapidly revolving cylinder, the 
cream, which is lighter, remains in the centre, and 
is carried off in a separate tube and poured into a 



132 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

can for cream. Tlie milk, being heavier, is thrown to 
the outside, and is drawn off in another tube. 

The cream thus collected in the cream can is then 
set in cold water and ice, where it is kept till ready 
for transfer to tlie refining tank. 

The skimmed milk may be used for making Dutch 
cheese, for which there is a good demand in the mar- 
ket, or it is sent back to the farm to feed the pigs 
and calves. 

When sufficient cream, about thirty gallons, has 
accumulated to make a good churning, it is all col- 
lected into a large tank, where the temperature is 
raised so that it will sour more easily, and, if neces- 
sary, a little acid introduced to help the souring 
process. 

It is then transferred to the churn. When all is 
prepared, the churn is set into a whirling motion b}' 
a belt connected with the same engine that is used to 
run the separator. The churning usually lasts about 
thirty minutes. As the butter begins to come in the 
churning, the condition of the cream can be told by 
the appearance of the cream on some little glass w^in- 
dows in the side of the churn. When the butter is 
well gathered the glass clears up and shows that the 
process of churning is complete. 

The churn is then opened and washed down with 
water, and the butter thus more collected into a mass. 
From the bottom a stopper is pulled out and the but- 
termilk drawai off, while the butter remains in the 
churn. 



GARDEN, FAliM, AND DAIRY 133 

A butter worker can now be inserted into the 
churn, which is then closed up and the churn set 
in motion again. Or the butter is taken out of the 
churn and laid on a circular table which is called the 
butter worker. It is supplied with several fluted 
rollers, under which the butter passes as the table 
revolves. By this action the buttermilk is squeezed 
out of the butter and the salt is thoroughly mixed 
with it. 

It is then taken to the printing machine, where it 
is pressed into moulds of a pound each, and receives 
the print of the creamery. 

While being preserved for customers, the butter is 
stored on the shelves of the cold storage room, where, 
by reason of the cooling effects of ice, it is kept sweet 
and fresh. The cheeses made in the creamery are 
also packed away in the cold storage room. 

About one-half of the milk received from the farm 
dairy is used for butter-making ; the other half is sold 
as fresh milk to consumers. 

A small steam-engine of three or four horse-power is 
used to run the churn and the separator when needed. 

The floor of the main room of the dairy is cemented, 
and slopes toward a number of holes from which pipes 
carry off the waste water. In washing out the cans, 
rinsing the bottles, churns, and basins, the hose is 
turned on and the rinsing water is carried off the 
floor by these pipes. In this way vessels, churns, 
and floors are kept clean and wholesome, and that 
with but little labor. 



134 LESSOXS IJV HOME GEOGRAPHY 

A single person can look after the creamery and 
see that the butter is kept pure and good, both in the 
process of butter-making and in the preserving of the 
products. 

Local Study of Soils 

Varieties of soil may be observed and examined in 
the home neighborhood. 

In the neighborhood of the schoolhouse at De Kalb, 
Illinois, the topic on soils may be enlarged by experi- 
ment and observation as follov^^s : Take the children 
out upon the campus and into the neighboring fields, 
to notice the depth and qualit}^ of soils. If a ditch 
has been lately dug, notice the depth of the black soil 
and of the 3'ellow clay. If necessar}^, use a spade, 
and first dig a hole upon high ground, noticing depth 
of soil. Later sink a hole in the low, swampy cam- 
pus near the creek, and see if the soil is different in 
depth and quality fi'om that on the highest knoll. 
What reasons may be given for this difference ? 
Notice what plants and trees grow upon the low, 
damp ground, and what upon the higher parts. In 
June or September observe the difference in the growth 
of corn or small grain upon the higher and in the 
lower parts of the neighboring field. The swampy 
places or sloughs have a very rank growth. What is 
the reason for these differences ? In the natural grove 
on the campus examine the decay of the leaves and 
twigs and plants under the trees. Notice the dif- 



GAliDEN, FARM, AND DAIRY . 135 

ference, if any, between the soil in the woods and 
that upon the prairie. 

In spring, at the time of the floods from melting 
snows or rains, take some of the muddy water from 
the creek or brook and let it settle. Where does the 
creek gather all this sediment ? How large an area 
of land does the brook drain ? Trace up the slopes 
as far as possible. When there are steep banks by 
the side of the creek, notice the cross-section of soils. 
Notice in places where the slopes are steep how the 
water washes out the dirt in little ruts and gullies. 
Why do the cultivated fields allow the soil to wash 
out more than pasture lands ? How can the washing 
away of the soils be hindered along sloping fields ? 
Notice how the farmers enrich the fields with fertiliz- 
ers and sometimes sow grain fields to grass and 
clover. What reasons may be given for this ? Notice 
the effect of draining the low lands or marshy places 
by tiles. What is the advantage of this drainage to 
the soil and crops ? 

In boring the wells for town water supply twelve 
hundred feet of strata were passed through. Find 
out what these strata were, and make a sectional view 
of them upon the blackboard. Twenty miles east of 
the town the railroad crosses the valley of Fox River, 
which has been washed out forty or fifty feet deeper 
than the prairie on either side. Make a diagram of 
this, and show where the rock quarries jut out at the 
sides of the valley, from which sources the limestone 
rock for foundations of houses is obtained. 



136 



LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 



Irrigation and Farming about San Antonio 

San Antonio lies in southwest Texas, in the edge of 
the arid belt. During some years there is sufficient 
rainfall to secure good crops of cotton, corn, vegetables, 
and grasses. But the rain is uncertain, and in other 
years the drought lasts for many months and crops 




Fig. 32. 
The San Jose Church and Mission. 

fail. Several good excursions may be made to the 
farms and gardens about San Antonio to observe the 
modes of irrigation and agriculture. 

Several of the old Spanish mis.sions built in the 
early part of the eighteenth century, nearly -two hun- 
dred years ago, were located along the small San 
Antonio River, and by means of ditches or canals 
water was drawn from the river and used to irrigate 
the rich, level lands about the missions. At these 



GARDEX, FARM, A^^J) DAIRY _ 137 

missions the early Spanish settlers collected the 
Indians in large numbers and set them to work on 
the farms or in building the great walls and cloisters 
of the missions. The old ditches, used many years 
by the Spaniards for conducting water over the fields, 
may be traced along both sides of the valley. In one 
place the arches of an old aqueduct across the river 
are still seen. Of course it was the lower lands near 
the river which were brought under cultivation by the 
early Spaniards. At the present time there are several 
places near San Antonio where the water is pumped 
by enghies from the river and conducted in large iron 
pipes to the level lands twenty or more feet above 
the river bed. While this is somewhat expensive, it 
secures a fruitful crop of vegetables, grasses, etc. 

In recent years deep wells have been bored upon 
some of the farms near San Antonio, and an abundant 
supph^ of water thus secured for irrigating crops. 

A \isit to one of these wells is very instructive. 
About two miles from town we visited three of these 
wells. 

The land is nearly level, and the soil is a very rich, 
dark-brown mould. Upon one of these farms, while 
riding along the country road, we saw the water 
pouring from a big iron pipe which looked much like 
a city hydrant. The owner explained that he had 
employed a well-digging company to sink a well at 
this spot. A large derrick was set up and a well was 
bored down through the dirt and rocks a thousand 
feet, when a very abundant supply of water gushed 



138 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

up and rose in the pipe thirty feet above the surface 
of the ground. A tubing was lowered into this well, 
eight inches in diameter, and the top, just above the 
ground level, was closed and regulated like a hydrant. 
The farmer can thus turn on the water or shut it off 
at will, using only what is needed for his crops. The 
sinking of this well cost the farmer $3 a foot, or 
13000, besides piping, ditching, etc. 

He is able to irrigate 160 acres of very rich land 
from this well. The water has been used for a year 
and shows no sign of decreasing in cjuantity. Near 
by we observed the men at work digging and sacking 
a big crop of potatoes. On account of the Southern 
climate the farmer is able to raise three crops each 
year, and he claimed that the soil was so rich that 
good crops could be secured for several years without 
any fertilizing. 

On this and the adjacent lands we saw crops of 
fine corn, sugar-cane, broom corn, cotton, hay, grain ; 
garden vegetables, such as beets, potatoes, onions, 
cabbages, lettuce, melons ; also orchards of figs, pears, 
peaches, and pecan nuts. 

A man who was cultivating vegetables with a horse 
and plough said that he was paying a money rent of 
$25 an acre per year for the land he was using. 
This would indicate abundant crops and a good sale 
at San Antonio for garden truck, fruits, etc. The big 
city market house in San Antonio is an instructive 
place to visit in this connection, to see how" many and 
varied are the products raised in the neighborhood of 



GARDEN, FARM, AND DAIRY 



139 



San Antonio. A visit to the market house with a 
class will furnish opportunity to see many other fruits 
and vegetables, grains, and grasses peculiar to Texas. 
Close by the market house is the open square, called 
the Hay Market, where corn, fodder, hay,, mesquite 
grass, and also melons and fruits are sold. 



It®'- 




Fig. 33. 
An irrigated fruit farm. 

One of the farms in the neighborhood of the one 
described above has a large artificial reservoir. Near 
the wells on the higher part of the farm the earth was 
scooped out to form a pond, and an embankment about 
eight or ten feet high was formed around the whole. 
Two large artesian wells pour their water into this 



140 



LESSONS IX HOME GEOGRAPHY 



basin till it is well filled. From this pond, which 
covers perhaps one and a half acres, the water is con- 
ducted by ditches over the farm. Trees have been 
planted upon this embankment and the water well 
stocked with fish, of which we saw an abundance. 
The level of water in the pond is several feet above 




- --- - Fii;. :i4. - .. 

The Alamo, San Antonio. 

the surrounding farm lands, making irrigation easy. 
Trees and orchards flourish on these irrigated fields. 
A fine residence, with beautiful gardens, orchards, and 
grape arbors, shows how profitable tiiis system of 
irrigation is, although it is only four or five years 
since these wells were first put in operation. 

It is a matter of uncertainty whether these irriga- 



Fig. 35. 
Threshina; wheat. 











jf: i 






k-. 


^- 




_..,. .._ 




BHmH n"" Iffc /tIb\J 


M|| 


.,^m 


V^j 




— imi 








B 




r ^flJ 


HH 



Fig. 3G. 
Hfirvestincf wheat with header. 




Harvesting wheat with self-binder. 



GARDEN, FAllM, AND DAIRY 141 

tion wells will hold out and thus furnish permanent 
water suppl}^ for agriculture. Many people believe 
that the water supply is abundant and will not 
decrease, being fed by supplies in the mountains 
and rock strata which are practically unlimited. 

The city of San Antonio, with sixt}^ thousand 
people, furnishes at present a good demand for the 
products of the farms and gardens. 



OTHER TOPICS OUTLINED FOR THE GARDEN, FARM, 
AND DAIRY 

Trips to the Garden in Spring and Fall. 

1. Preparation of the garden for spring planting. 

2. Vegetables raised in the garden. 

3. Mode of cultivating onions, radishes, tomatoes, cabbages, 

etc. 

4. The hotbed and its uses in early spring. 

5. The use of fertilizers on the soil. 

6. Effect of rain and drought. 

7. Tools and machines used in cultivating. 

8. The vegetable garden in the fall. 

9. Gathering of the garden fruits and vegetables, and storage. 

10. The market in the neighboring town and shipments to 

more distant places^ 

11. Effect of early frosts. 

12. The labor and profits of gardening. 

Trip to the Farm. 

1. Putting in the crops in the springtime. 

2. Rotation of crops. 

3. Cultivation of grains ; harvesting, etc. Granaries ; cribs ; 

barns ; silos, etc. 



142 



LESSONS IN HOME GEOGBAPUY 



4. Cattle and stock raising on the farm. 

5. Hauling and shipping produce from the farm. 

6. Farm work in winter. 

7. Machines and cultivators used on the farm. 




Jm(. .^ 
A farmyard scene. 

The Hothouse. 

1. Survey of the plants in the hothouse. 

2. Construction of the hothouse. 

3. Mode of heating and watering. 

4. The soils used for various plants. 

5. The cultivation of flowers in hothouse. 

6. The cultivation of vegetables. 

7. Modes of propagating geraniums and other plants. 

8. The profit of raising hothouse plants. 

The Orchard. 

1. The apple trees ; planting and care ; kinds. 

2. Cherry trees ; peach trees. 

3. Injuries to fruit trees and mode of prevention. 

4. The gathering and sale of fruits, 

5. The marketing of fruits. 



(U-^ 



CHAPTER V 

government 

Local Town Government and the Court-house 

The local town government. — Town councils elected 
by the people are familiar to the children. They have 
charge of the streets, sidewalks, bridges, appointment 
and paj^ment of the police, waterworks, gas or elec- 
tric light plant, and expenditure for other purposes. 
The mayor of the town is also an executive officer who 
is directly responsible for enforcing the ordinances 
which are passed by the council. The justice of the 
peace in the village tries the cases which come before 
him under the law. We have, therefore, in the vil- 
lage, the law-making power, administrative authority, 
and the local judge for the trial of cases. Matters 
concerning which laws may be passed, as streets, 
bridges, etc., ought to be discussed ; also the granting 
of licenses for the sale of tobacco and liquors ; con- 
cerning bicycles, pedlers, the care of the poor and of 
tramps ; concerning health, the amount of tax levy, 
and other matters. If the children live in a small 
city, or even in a larger city, these topics may be 
somewhat enlarged, and the importance of those just 
mentioned may be illustrated in a more striking way. 
This topic is also connected with the duties of the 

143 



144 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

local school l3oard elected by the people, which ad- 
ministers the affairs of the schools, provides for the 
buildings and teachers, and the expenditure of money 
for the general purposes of education. 

A second topic, well worthy of study, is that of the 
county government as centring in the court-house, 
with its county officers and their administration of 
county affairs. An excursion of the children to the 
court-house, including a visit to the court-room and to 
the offices of the county recorder where the titles to 
property in the town and county are preserved, is a 
source of excellent training. Who pays the expenses 
of the county government ? The salaries of the 
county officers ? The cost of the county court-house 
and the expenses of the county court ? The topics 
which we have just referred to should be handled in 
the third grade or fourth as an essential part of the 
geographical instruction which embraces the leading 
topics of home geography. 

Springfield, Illinois 

Springfield, the capital city of Illinois, lies near the 
centre of the state, with the prairies on the east and 
the woods bordering the Sangamon River on the north- 
west. Its chief importance is as a centre for law- 
making and government. 

The capitol building sends its great dome up some 
three hundred and sixty feet into the air, and com- 
mands from the top a broad outlook over the rich 



GOVERNMENT 145 

farms and forests of this region of Illinois. Within 
this building the massive structure of the central 
dome, with circling rows of columns rising stovj 
above story, is seen. The broad halls and spacious 
stairways are in harmony with the grand and mas- 
sive architecture of the wdiole building. 

The east entrance is between great pillars, from 
which rise, above, a series of lofty Greek columns 
like an ancient temyjle. The main central part of 
the building is flanked on each side by a broad wing, 
and the wings are so identical in form and detail as 
to give an almost perfect harmony of parts. 

In the interior of the building, just above the great 
stairway leading to the Senate-chamber and House of 
Representatives, is a large mural painting represent- 
ing George Rogers Clark in council with the Indians. 
This is an effort to commemorate the great event of 
Clark's conc[uest of Illinois, the most important fact 
in the early history of the Northwest. 

In the south wing on the third floor is the cham- 
ber of the House of Representatives, where the more 
numerous and popular division of the state legisla- 
ture meets each second winter to frame the laws of 
Illinois. Directly opposite to this, on the same floor, 
is the Senate-chamber, a much smaller room, as the 
Senate is a much less numerous body of men. These 
two assemblies of men, elected from all parts of the 
state, go to Springfield once in two years, at the time 
appointed in the state constitution, to take counsel 
and determine what laws are necessary for the gen- 



146 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

eral welfare of tlie people in Illinois. Many very 
important matters are discussed and laws passed. 
The railroad fares are regulated by such laws, and 
the roads are forbidden to charge more than three 
cents a mile. Laws are also passed regarding rail- 
road crossings, accidents, and loss of life on railroads, 
freight charges, etc. The state legislature also passes 
laws in regard to the manufacture and sale of liquors, 
and the licensing of saloons ; in regard to state taxa- 
tion for schools, and for streets, waterworks, and other 
public improvements ; in regard to the punishment of 
criminals ; in regard to insurance companies and other 
large corporations, regulating their method of doing 
business. The state legislature also provides by law 
for the state institutions, such as the State Universit}-, 
the five Normal Schools, furnishing money for build- 
ings, teachers, and other running expenses. Tlie state 
reformatories, asjdums, penitentiaries, and orphanages 
are also provided for b}' state law, so that helpless 
people, as the l)lind, the feeble-minded, the deaf and 
dumb, and the insane are housed and taken care of 
hj experts trained to such duties. 

Game laws are also made for the protection of 
wild game at certain seasons, also the fishes in the 
lakes and rivers. Laws forbidding tlie employment 
of children in factories, and requiring them to attend 
school are adopted. There are laws in regard to 
adulterated foods, pure milk, and butter and meats. 
Also in regard to contagious diseases and public 
sanitation. 



GOVERNMENT 147 

In order to make clearer the facts in regard to the 
legislature, the local representatives of the home dis- 
trict in the state Senate, and in the House should be 
named, and the time and manner of election explained. 
Each senator and representative in the legislature re- 
ceives a salary for the time he is in the legislature, 
and an allowance for his expenses in travelling and 
living. 

The bills must be approved by both Houses, and be 
signed by the governor before thej^ become laws. 
The expenses of all the parts of the state govern- 
ment and of the state institutions are provided for 
by the legislature. The large amount of money 
needed for these purposes is raised by state taxation, 
according to state law. 

The speaker of the House of Representatives is 
elected by the House, and he is usuall}^ one of the 
most influential politicians in the state. The lieu- 
tenant-governor presides over the Senate, and in 
case of the death of the governor takes his j^lace. 

As one enters the House of Representatives, he 
notices on the left of the speaker's chair a large 
portrait of Stephen A. Douglas, represented as stand- 
ing and delivering a speech. On the right is a por- 
trait of Abraham Lincoln, sitting at a table. These 
two men stand out as the most eminent political 
leaders in the history of Hlinois — Douglas, the great 
leader of the Democrats before the war, and Lincoln, 
the Republican President during the Civil War. 

A few blocks to the southeast of the capitol stands 



148 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPDY 

the residence of the governor. It is a palatial liome, 
standing in the midst of a spacious lawn. The 
governor of the state is elected once in four years by 
the people of the state. It is his duty to see that the 
laws passed by the legislature of the state are put in 
force. He appoints men to all the state boards which 
manage the state institutions, such as asylums, peni- 
tentiaries, and the state schools. He is commander 
of the state militia, which he may call out in case of 
riot or public danger. He also has much influence 
upon the acts of the legislature while in session, and 
may veto laws passed by the lawmakers if he thinks 
best, although a sufficient majority ma}^ pass the law 
in spite of his veto. 

The city of Springfield is an interesting place to 
visit, as the home of Lincoln. It was in this cit}-^, 
then a small place, that Lincoln practised law many 
years before he was elected President. ?Iis old home 
stands there still, a two-story frame house, only a 
few blocks from the court-house. It is now owned 
by the state, and is occupied by a family that was 
related to the Lincoln famih% and some objects of 
interest, in connection with Lincoln's life in Spring- 
field, are shown. 

A visit to the beautiful cemeter}^ a mile and a half 
northwest of the city, is of much interest, where, 
upon a hill surrounded by neighboring forests, stands 
the Lincoln moiuunent. It is a square stone shaft 
rising from a large square foundation to a height of 
about one hundred feet. Two great stone stairways 



GOVERNMENT 149 

lead up to the base of the main pedestal. An open 
doorway, protected by an iron gate, allows one to look 
into a room at the heavy stone casket where lies the 
bones of Abraham Lincoln. On the opposite side of 
the pedestal is a room containing some relics of Lin- 
coln. One may climb by a circular stairway to the 
top of the monument and get a broad survey of the 
landscape and city. 

There is probably no other spot which Americans 
visit with as much respect, except Mount Vernon on 
the banks of the Potomac. 

Another place of considerable interest to the people 
of Illinois is the state camp which lies to the west of 
the cemetery. 

When the state militia, with their officers, are 
called to Springfield, they set up their tents and go 
into camp on the spacious grounds of this encamp- 
ment. Here the companies of the state militia, eight 
regiments in all, are called together once a year and 
put through their military drill. They enter into the 
full practice of military life, live in tents, keep guard, 
mess in army fashion, engage in target shooting, 
infantry, cavalry, and artillery drills. A large open 
meadow in the front of the camp furnishes ample 
drill grounds, and a fine oak woods just back of this 
supplies a choice place for an encampment. In July 
or August each regiment spends a week at this en- 
campment, at state expense, enjoying all the pleasures 
of army life, plenty of good band music, an occasional 
speech by the governor, a great deal of attention from 



150 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY' 

the gentlemen and ladies of Springfield, who ride out 
in carriages each evening to witness the drills and 
hear the band, etc. 

When the legislature is in session, every second 
winter, Springfield is a lively city. The big hotels 
are crowded with people, and the best boarding-house 
keepers have all the}^ can do. At other times busi- 
ness is apt to be pretty dull. Yet at all times the 
presence of the governor and tlie state officials and 
their families gives some social distinction and life to 
the capital city. 

The State Fair Ground, just at the northeast limit 
of the city, is each fall the centre of a week's busy 
exhibitions. There is a great display of fruits, vege- 
tables, grain, and manufactured products. Also live 
stock from all parts of the state, and almost all the 
industrial interests of the state have here an annual 
display. 

Springfield, partly from its importance as the seat 
of government and partly from its location in the 
midst of a rich agricultural and coal-mining region, 
has become an important railroad and commercial 
city. There are several large coal mines, a watch 
factory, extensive iron and machine shops, besides 
smaller factories of several kinds. 

At the close a comparison may be made between 
the local government of the town or city and that of 
the whole state at Springfield. A jquy later a com- 
parison of the state government with that at Wash- 
ington will be very instructive. 



GOVERNMENT 151 



GOVERNMENT (OUTLINE) 

The City Hall and Officeks. 

1. The building and its arrangements. 

2. The mayor and his duties. 

3. The council ; their election ; the work of the mayor and 

council in law-making. 

4. The city police ; their appointment and duties. The arrest 

and imprisonment of offenders. 

5. The trial of cases in the police court. 

The Fire Department. 

1. Visit to the engine-house ; the fire-engine, horses, hose-cart, 

etc. 

2. Fire signals, and quick service. 

3. Dangers of the work of firemen. 

4. The hydrants and water power. 

5. The hours and pay of the firemen. 

The Waterworks. 

1. The source of pure water for the city ; artesian wells ; dis- 

tant reservoirs ; tunnels and aqueducts. 

2, The pumping stations ; water-tower ; the water mains and 

pipes. 

3. The expense of supplying city water. 

4, Uses to which the water is put ; household uses ; factories ; 

fires ; street-cleaning ; lawns. 

The Gas-works. 

1. The ovens for producing gas ; coke. 

2. The gas-tank. 

3. Piping gas through the city to stores, houses, and streets. 

4. The use of gas in houses ; dangers. 

5. Other means of lighting and heating. 

6. How the gas rates are fixed ; metre. 



152 LESSONS IN HOME GEOGRAPHY 

The City Schools. 

1. Various school buildings. 

2. Expense of keeping up schools and sclioolhouses. 

3. The board of education ; how chosen. Duties. 

4. The compulsory school law. 

5. Higher schools or colleges near by. 

6. The State University. 



PIONEER HISTORY SERIES 

By CHARLES A. McMURRY 

Designed as a complete series of early history stories of the Eastern, 
Middle, and Western States, suitable as an introduction for 
children to American History. Illustrated and equipped with 
maps. 

Cloth i2mo 40 cents each 



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The first of the tliree volumes deals with the chief ocean explorers, 
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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



Methods in Elementary Education 

A SERIES OF EDUCATIONAL BOOKS IN TWO GROUPS COVERING THE 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF METHOD AND ITS SPECIAL 

APPLICATIONS TO THE COMMON SCHOOL 

By CHARLES A. McMURRY, Ph.D. 

Northern Illinois State Normal School, De Kalb, III. 



The Elements of General Method 

Based on the ideas of Herbart. New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. i2mo. 
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The Method of the Recitation 

New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. i2mo. 339 pp. 90 cents net. (Postage 10 
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Special Method in the Reading of Complete English 
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Special Method in Primary Reading and Oral Work with 
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Cloth. i2mo. 198 pp. 75 cents net. (Postage 8 cents.) 

Special Method in Geography 

New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. i2mo. 228 pp. 70 cents net. (Postage 
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Special Method in History 

A complete outline of a course of study in history, for the grades below the high school. 
New edition, revised and enlarged. Cloth. i2mo. 291 pp. 75 cents net. (Postage 
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Special Method in Elementary Science for the Common 
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Cloth. i2mo. 285 pp. 75 cents net. (Postage 10 cents.) 

Type Studies from the Geography of the United States 

First Series 

Excursions and Lessons in Home Geography 



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66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 



OCT 81 1904 



